Match Preview: Oxford City (H) – Saturday 27th August 2022 – 15:00
The long weekend of football has arrived in this Bank Holiday period, as the first of two games in three days sees Oxford City travel to the Bob Lucas Stadium this afternoon.
THE TERRAS
It’s now four defeats from four in the league which is far from ideal as far as everyone is concerned, with this new look Terras squad still gelling together game on game. But results need to come fast and they can come from anywhere – especially in this league. However, another glaring observation is our defensive record where we are currently conceding 3 goals a game, which if the Terras want results, will need sharpening up fast. It’s also a big day for our defenders Dan Matsuzaka and Harry Kyprinaou, who face their former side today, and of course our gaffer David Oldfield facing his former employers. A statement victory potentially, but a win this afternoon would certainly help steer the Terras ship in the right direction moving forward.
Player To Watch: Tom Blair
After scoring our only goal against Chelmsford last weekend, Tom has been consistently creating chances and will be expecting to carry on in similar fashion this afternoon.
THE HOOPS
Oxford City come into this game off of back-to-back victories against St Albans City, where they came out 1-0 winners away from home and a 5-0 thrashing of Concord Rangers at home. They are averaging 2.3 goals a game, although very early in the season, given Weymouth’s defensive record so far, they’ll need to be wary. The back-to-back clean sheets for the Hoops going into this game as well, will be something that the Terras front line will be working extra hard today to attempt to disrupt their defensive form. After making the play-offs last season, despite the departure of David Oldfield, the Hoops will be looking for a similar if not better outcome this season, as they push to play in the National League.
Player To Watch: Klaidi Lolos
After signing from Torquay United this summer, forward Lolos has scored three league goals so far, including two goals that were scored against Concord last weekend. Given his form, Lolos will certainly be the one that the Terras will need to mark tightly and prevent from having chances on goal.
@TerraStatman’s Facts of the Match
Jumping through hoops!
Just the nine meetings against our opponents today, but over an impressive time span, as our first meeting was way back in 1902 when the Terras had only been in existence for 12 seasons and Oxford City for 20 campaigns! Overall our record is W3 D2 L4 and at home W3 D1 L2. Our first two games were home friendlies – the 1902 finished in a 4-0 win for Weymouth and the second in 1923 was a 1-1 draw.
Ox-tail soup
However it would be another 88 years before the two teams would cross paths again for our first competitive meetings in the Southern League in 2010-11. In that season we followed up a 1-1 home draw (Richard Groves scoring for Weymouth) with being on the wrong end of 0-5 tonking in Oxfordshire! The following season we fared slightly better as Stephen Reed secured a 1-0 win at the BLS before a 0-2 reverse in the Home Counties. Another eight years would then pass until our next tussles, again in the league but this time in the National League South in 2019 – on the way to playoff success and a place in the National League. But any thoughts of promotion were distant when we ground out a 0-0 draw away in September, leaving us in 10th place after nine games. Even a 2-1 win on 28th December at home only saw us climbing to 6th place on what we thought would be the mid-way point of what turned out to be a pandemic-based-truncated season. In that victory it was Yemi Odudabe and Abdulai Baggie with the all important goals.
Ox-factor!
Of course our most recent meeting was just two seasons ago in the last qualifying round of the FA Cup. Despite home advantage for the Terras over the Blue & Whites one division below, this was righty seen as a potential banana-skin and so it sadly proved as a brace of strikes just before the quarter-hour mark from City knocked us off our stride. Although we levelled the scores with 25 mins to go through an own goal and then an Andreas Robinson strike, we succumbed to a late sucker punch that sent us spiralling out of the competition. Oxford City’s goalscorers that day were J. Roberts, J. Ashby & L. Hall and their prize was a home tie against league two Northampton Town and a giant killing! The Hoops then went out by a single goal to Shrewsbury in Round 2.
Players crossing the Ox-ford
The stellar list of known players who have turned out for both teams today is …
Keiran Baker, Brian Benjafield, Matt Bound, Andy Caton, Steve Chalk, Aaron Drewe, Ben Gerring, Ryan Harrison, Harry Kyprianou, Dan Matsuzaka, Bobby Moore, Cliff Nugent, Leslie Parodi, Harry Redknapp
Yes you read two of those names correctly! Bobby Moore played one game for Weymouth, a benefit match against Chelsea in 1979 when he was Oxford City manager. ‘Arry turned out once for us earlier that year, in a Western Counties Floodlight Cup game – he was Bobby’s assistant manager around that time. How or why Redknapp played in what was effectively a youth competition, as a 32 year old, is a bit of a mystery, but it was probably a favour to maintain fitness!
And we cannot finish without mentioning our current manager David Oldfield, who was last employed by today’s visitors before joining the Terras in January of this year.
