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02/3/2020 4:39 PM  #1


Oxford City (Away)

After another fantastic win at the weekend against St Albans, we look ahead now to the game against Oxford City FC on Saturday. In the home fixture, a very frustrating evening for the Bluebirds as Rhys Tyler's opener was cancelled out by a very fortunate free kick routine aided not only be the referee in giving the free kick but also in blocking the runner to eliminate the threat down the right hand side which was exploited with the resulting cross ending in Stefan Brown rising highest to head Oxford level in a night most people will remember for the floodlights failing at 1-0 and it seeming to be our downfall as Oxford came out with a spring in their step as if it was some part of a clever plan. 

Since then Oxford too have changed their manager as Mark Jones has stepped away, handing control of First Team affairs to Justin Merritt and Andy Ballard. Oxford come into the game in 12th position only 3 points ahead of the Bluebirds. Due to superior goal difference to the teams around us, in large part due to our superb defensive performances throughout the season, a win for the Bluebirds on Saturday could have a very positive reflection on the league table. We currently sit 14th in the League with Welling, Oxford and Hemel all within a victory of catching distance, superior goal differences to all with even a +1 goal victory. With ourselves playing Oxford, Welling playing at Maidstone and Hemel playing Dorking, if the form guide is anything to go by, we should see ourselves finishing the day in 11th position and a mere 3 points away from the top ten. So we really do have it all to play for. 

Our opponents as many know, play on an artificial surface and keen listeners to the interviews after the matches by Matt and Jamie will be very aware that we now train on the surface at the rugby club so this will really be a great leveller and should see us able to play the pass and move brand of football that Mike has implemented at the club so very well in recent weeks. 

Oxford do have a few familiar faces in the camp. One will be very familiar to ourselves with AJ George our former midfielder leaving to join Oxford earlier in the season after being deemed surplus to requirements by CTFC. Also Elliot Benyon who's career has been most synonymous with Torquay United but also having spells at Swindon and Southend after spending his Youth Career at Bristol City will be looking to be amongst the goals as ever. Nana Owusu is a very lively forward player who can take defences to pieces given a little space and we will certainly have our hands full keeping him contained. For fans of the recent ITV reality show Love Island (All two of you) the winners Paige Turley and Finley Tapp, scooping a £50,000 prize shared between them, will be recognisable to many people, however, Finn might be recognisable to a few strikers up and down the National League South making some 20 appearances for Oxford before going AWOL to head to the Love Island Villa in South Africa, a move that the Commercial Director at Oxford has called a direct breach of contract and that the player is expected back at Oxford to uphold the contract. Whether or not he features is anyone's guess but if you are a keen reader of Heat Magazine, you are more likely to him there at the moment than the Oxford City programme! 

Chippenham head into this game with a full head of steam with 4 wins from the last 5 games. We are not yet sure on the extent of Nat Jarvis' injury sustained in the warm up Saturday but I am sure in due course we will be aware of his fitness and whether or not he will take part against Oxford. Former Oxford man Jack Self has done himself no harm with a solid performance at the weekend off the bench and of course the Swindon lads will have a little eye on this one to get one over on the big rivals B team. Personally, if we play the way we have the last couple of weeks with a little bit of quality in the final third, I find it hard not to predict another Chippenham win here. I am going for another 2-1 victory in front of a crowd of 550. 

After all the excitement of recent weeks, we really need this, a winnable tie away from home to keep the momentum going on this excellent run. Mike has the lads playing some excellent football with tremendous resilience out of possession and hard work will undo a lot of teams. Oxford are going to have to be at their very best to ensure we don't come away with maximum points and put that little bit more breathing room between us and the drop zone. However, we keep winning at this rate, we are going to put the drop zone in our rear view and accidentally find ourselves nipping at the heels of the teams in 7-10th position, can you just imagine ;) COYMB

 

02/3/2020 4:54 PM  #2


Re: Oxford City (Away)

How we looking on the injury side of things forward wise ?

 

02/3/2020 4:59 PM  #3


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Reginald74 wrote:

How we looking on the injury side of things forward wise ?

David Pratt - Still a good couple weeks away I would have thought. 

Nat Jarvis - Had a very tight calf muscle in the warm up Saturday and was struggling for mobility and was removed as a precaution. Hopefully we are able to call on him this weekend. I am sure this is going to be predicated on how he trains on Tuesday and Thursday. 

Chris Zebroski - Absolutely fine, seemed to be removed on Saturday for tactical reasons and nothing else. If this is the case it is likely that Zeb will start the game on Saturday. 

Scott Twine - Fine as Wine, quite sublime and tearing through defences like Coronavirus is tearing through Wuhan! 

Luke Hopper - Seems to be capable in the minutes he is spending on the pitch, will again I think remain an option ff the bench should we need the last 15 minutes boost. 

Failing all of those, I hear Marc McGregor is keen to pull the boots back on and kick some defenders around ;) 

     Thread Starter
 

03/3/2020 11:51 AM  #4


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Thanks, is not possible for the club to relay this kind of update on official site,as not all forum savvy. Glad you have all the inside contact.

 

03/3/2020 12:14 PM  #5


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Reginald74 wrote:

Thanks, is not possible for the club to relay this kind of update on official site,as not all forum savvy. Glad you have all the inside contact.

It's not really an inside contact mate, just paying attention and speaking to people I guess. The problem is the club doesn't have someone who does this on a full time basis, they do try their best the trouble is to update the website and socials daily about this kind of information does take time and as always the people that do this are on a voluntary basis. It's very hard to knock volunteers mate. 

     Thread Starter
 

03/3/2020 12:26 PM  #6


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Oxford City Goalkeeper Craig King has just been called up to Paul Fairclough's England C squad for the Internationals against Wales on March 24th. Clearly a talented dude there and will need to be at our best to get the ball past what it would seem is the best English stopper in Non-League football... 

     Thread Starter
 

03/3/2020 12:29 PM  #7


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Reginald74 wrote:

Thanks, is not possible for the club to relay this kind of update on official site,as not all forum savvy. Glad you have all the inside contact.

They barely give us any information on new player signings apart from his name!

 

03/3/2020 12:45 PM  #8


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Space Raider wrote:

Reginald74 wrote:

Thanks, is not possible for the club to relay this kind of update on official site,as not all forum savvy. Glad you have all the inside contact.

They barely give us any information on new player signings apart from his name!

I think these kind of issues could so easily be addressed as well that's what makes it really quite unbearable for the masses. It takes nowhere near as long as people might think to put a little effort into announcements and pad up the journalistic side a little bit. But, as always, this is done by a team of volunteers and should anyone step forward with ways to help the club in any way I am sure they would be appreciated. 

     Thread Starter
 

03/3/2020 2:02 PM  #9


Re: Oxford City (Away)

Appreciate that but it’s very clear we are miles behind most off pitch. Keep up the good work 

 

03/3/2020 2:40 PM  #10


Re: Oxford City (Away)

To be fair the club's twitter and Instagram accounts are very good, my only issue is lack of information on new signings. It really isn't hard to also include the player's age and position rather than just his name and former club.

 

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