March 4, 2024

Before I start this week’s match report, I have been remiss. With a lack of match reports due to illness and holiday. Also last week, star forward John Pickstone scored 2 worldies and I had no idea how to describe them. Pickstones version of events went something like this: ‘South Africa, South Africa, 4 world cups, South Africa.’ After over a month of home games, Oundle were finally back on the road again, travelling to one of the closer away games in fellow strugglers Melton 2s. Oundle sat 7 points from safety after the 2 recent fixtures against Loughborough and Saints 2s. With fate now out of their hands Oundle travelled with a strong 15 players to face bottom of the league Melton.  This week marked the return of forward George Martin, who scared of Pickstones new found form, knew he had to score to keep his top gun dream alive. A little bit of extra incentive was added to the game when an old face showed up. Yes John Brown was there however it was a different old face, with ex player Macca in the lineup for Melton. The offer of a beer came from the Melton backline if any of the Oundle players could give Macca a good kicking. The game started with Oundle adopting the now standard half court press. Inviting the other team to try and break them down. Melton accepted the invitation and started brightly putting pressure on the Oundle backline. Oundles resolve was not broken however, limiting Melton to just the one shot which was off target. Oundle meanwhile looked dangerous on the counter attack, Dalley looking to get his goal for the game, taking a swing and a miss in the Melton D. As Oundle grew into the game they started pressing higher and higher up the pitch, which started causing more and more problems for the Melton team, with errors starting to take their toll. Oundle soon won the first short corner of the game, the injection went to castle 1 where George Martin showed Oundle what they were missing without him as he gleefully planted a strike into the bottom left corner of the Melton goal. The Melton defender was unlucky not to get a touch. Oundle were buoyed by this goal were unlucky not to add another goal in quick succession, with Dalley shooting narrowly wide from a tight angle. It was then that disaster struck, taking this shot caused Dalley to fall over badly, getting injured in the process. Despite being one striker down, Oundle were not dismayed, standing firm for the rest of the half. Oundle enjoyed large spells of possession in something that has not been seen much this season, playing the ball around the back and working the space. The 2nd half started much the same as the first, both sides being content with possession and finding their feet playing it around the back. Any Melton attacks were quickly snuffed out. Despite Maccas boasting of his goal scoring prowess prior to the game, he was not given a sniff. It was early on when an Oundle counter attack was stopped by a Melton player who decided that he would rather be playing football, which resulted in the first card of the game being branded Oundle did have some good chances which they failed to take advantage of, the first being another strike from George which was well saved by the keeper. A 1 on 1 followed with again the Melton keeper coming out on top. Being the wily old striker that he is, Martin even picked a ball from a Melton 16, having an initial shot and the rebound but still unable to find the back of the net. As the 2nd half wore on both sides started to show signs of fatigue, becoming leggy and stretching the game. Oundles back line again held firm and despite a 5 minute spell where they couldn’t get the ball out of their own half, Youngy was left with nothing to do in goal, keeping only his 2nd clean sheet of the season. Oundles defence did not conceding any short corners for the 2nd time in 3 matches. The game finished with Oundle running out 1-0 victors. Unusually for Oundle they did also not receive any cards. With this win Oundle now find themselves 4 points from safety with 3 games left, including 2 of the uni sides. Oundle are very much staring into the Abyss, next week being a massive game at home vs Rugby 3s. If we’re going down, we’re gonna go down swinging. HWTL.