Following our fantastic start to the season, Oxted Ladies continued their great run of form into October. The 8th saw us play at home against league competition Reigate Ladies, in the Surrey League Cup.They were at the top of the table, so we knew they’d be tough opposition. The game started off evenly, with both teams struggling to get any sight on goal. Our breakthrough came 26 minutes in, when Kayleigh Stenning scored a fantastic strike, assisted by Leah Halpin.
We dominated possession for the rest of the half: Codie Roy scored another from a tight angle on 37 minutes and took us into half-time 2-0 up.
After a positive team talk we came out again feeling confident, with Ashley Collier scoring her first ever goal in women’s’ football just two minutes after kick-off! From then, we continued to have a lot of possession but Reigate fought back, meaning we had to defend well to keep a clean sheet. The game finished 3-0, seeing us into the next round, away to Sutton United Women’s Reserves. Player of the Match (PotM) went to our captain and central defender, Alex Rusk, which highlighted the hard work of our defenders.
On the 15th we took on Caterham Pumas u18s in the Surrey County FA Cup. They were sitting unbeaten at the top of their league after a great start to their season. We began the game well, dominating possession and scoring six in the first 20 minutes. The resilient Pumas then settled down and made it much harder for us, but by half-time we’d put nine goals past them. At half-time they made substitutions, changed formation and tactics and made the second half much more difficult, but we finished 12-1, with goals from seven different players, and hat-tricks for Stenning and Danielle White. PotM went to Halpin, who had scored and assisted.
On 22nd October, our league fixture was at home vs Crawley AFC Development, who had won four out of six league games so far this season. We began the game a little unsettled and found ourselves 2-0 down after just 22 minutes. Composing ourselves, we fought back hard and regained some control, holding the score unchanged until half-time, when we made tactical changes and altered our formation to give us more control in the middle of the pitch. We came out strong for the second half and created more opportunities, leading to White’s great headed flick-on and a looping half-volley from Chloe Robertson to give us a goal in the 58th minute.
From then, we grew in confidence, keeping a lot more possession, taking some great chances and defending well. Unfortunately, despite lots of opportunities and shots on target, Crawley’s keeper made some great saves and kept them ahead. We finished 1-2 down, feeling unlucky not to come away with a draw. PofM was awarded to our keeper Lucy Manning, who made some great saves throughout the game.
As I write this in the last week of October we’re currently fifth in the league, but we have two games in hand over the other teams, so we’re still in a great position!
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