Results:
WinColl Soccer XI 2-3 OWFC 1s
WinColl 2nd XI 1-0 OWFC 2s
OWFC and the WinColl Soccer XI and 2nd XI played their annual games against each other on Saturday on a great day in which the wind and the rain did not reflect the general footballing flair and Wykehamical camaraderie.
On Doggers, the O-Dubs 1s were trying out a new 3 at the back, diamond in the middle formation, the in-vogue structure that is delivering such success across Europe (and for Old Foresters when they beat us 4-0 in October). it went well in the first half, with Fred Thomas in the Makelele role smothering danger with flying tackles like an assassin smothering a helpless hospital patient with a pillow, with Charlie Court and Tom Goulding either side of him, and Ollie Mitchell and Pete Fuller offering attacking width as wing-backs.
Mike Hodnett, at the tip of the diamond, struck a lightning quick right-footed shot catching the WinColl keeper unaware for 1-0. The gegen press from Hodnett worked well to win the ball in their box off their keeper shortly after, with Essex tapping in an open goal for 2-0.
A Hodnett shot that took a heavy deflection to go in will be referred to the dubious goals panel, for 3-0 in the 2nd half, though WinColl came back into it in the last half hour with two goals on the counter-attack. They had chances to level late but the Dubs held on.
Many familiar faces from across the years took part, with James Brown (2010) bamboozling opponents with his trademark left-footed feint, as his class’ colleagues in Teddy Golding and Antoine Kerck were over on Bulls Drove for the OWFC 2s, who went down 1-0 to WinColl 2nd XI in a scrappy but close game.
Three weekends of games before the Christmas break so get involved!
Teams:
Rollo Quinnault, Pete Fuller, Tom Bouch, Rupert Mercer, Guy Mercer, Hugo Sever, Fred Thomas, James Brown, Ollie Mitchell, Tom Goulding, Charlie Court, Mike Hodnett, Nick Murray, James Essex.
Richard Cubitt, Rob Selwyn, Alex Dawkins, Al Hardiman, Pete Elphick, Gabriel Tiplady, Freddie Blackett, John Wilson, Teddy Golding, Antoine Kerck, Luke McMaster, Gus Morse.