Oxford City (2) 4 Lolas 17,48,54 (pen) Davies 25
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 544
Admission: Pass
Mileage: 230/6,901
There are three scenarios as to why a visit to Oxford City’s Marsh Lane won’t be necessary next season.
Firstly, Oxford might well get promotion to the National League. They are handily placed for a top three finish thereby missing the elimination round and in the other half of the draw would be those serial playoff bottlers, Dartford.
Should they not get promotion, there is a serious possibility as the ups and downs presently sit, that they might get shuffled to National League North.
And the least likely scenario, Tonbridge Angels get promotion. The club have come a long way this season, but if there was ever an illustration of the journey still to progress, this game was a case in point.
There is one other scenario and when the new season’s fixtures are published in the summer, look for Oxford City (a) and promptly book a holiday!
And who can blame me? My first visit in 2020 saw a fine 3-0 win with a newly-signed Tommy Wood bagging a brace. Since then, three visits have seen 13 goals conceded without troubling the onion bag.
After Friday’s torrential rain that saw several games postponed, black clouds threatened the Oxford sky but the storm that was coming the Angels way was in the shape of Klaidi Lolas. Not that this was evident in the opening quarter-hour when Jordan Greenidge looked lively and the opening chances fell to Joe Turner who saw his shot blocked and following a corner that was headed back across goal by Sonny Miles, his rising shot cleared the bar.
So it was against the run of play when the home side took the lead. Zac McEachran waltzed his way through a couple of insipid challenges before laying the ball off for Lolas to shoot into the bottom corner.
A brilliant save from Jonny Henly, pushing a shot from Alfie Potter onto the bar and over on 24 minutes was only short respite as, from the resultant corner, Jack Davies headed home.
In this period, Oxford City were at their best, confident, little touch and goes around the box and superb distribution from the middle of the pitch had the Angels chasing shadows for a 20 minute spell.
But credit to Tonbridge, they withstood it and actually came back into the game in the latter stages of the half with Greenidge having a couple of efforts that were saved, albeit comfortably, by Adnan Kanuric.
But any hope of a stirring comeback were quickly dispelled in the opening minutes of the second half when Lolas was was sent clear to bury a shot into the bottom corner.
After 53 minutes, Lolas was allowed to run into the box before being brought down and he duly completed his hat trick from the spot.
Now the worry was a humiliating, seriously heavy defeat. Thankfully, the Angels dug in; Oxford perhaps took their foot off the pedal and the game died on its feet.
After 64 minutes, Greenidge steered a free header wide of the post to deny even a consolation. It was that sort of afternoon.
Sometimes you can do no more than hold your hands up and accept that you have been well beaten by much the better side. Football-wise I won’t be sorry to see Oxford disappear from the map (despite my wife's love of Morse and Lewis), any which way!
No comments:
Post a Comment