WORDS BY SAM RATHBONE

Kidlington Reserves look to stride on a positive midweek performance, dancing out a 1-0 victory on the road against Carterton FC on Tuesday, as they welcome Shortwood United to Yarnton Road this Saturday afternoon.

The Oxfordshire Derby was all to play for and was very evenly balanced for 75 minutes until Ryan Chambers pounced on a shot that struck the post for him to easily tap it home, to give Jordi Mulvany's side all three points and extend the gap between themselves and the bottom three. Honestly with most of possession and more controlled chances on goal throughout the game, The Greens deserved that Oxfordshire Derby Day victory at Carterton!

Shortwood United are back on the road yet again as this time they travel to Kidlington off the back of a 3-1 defeat to Droitwich Spa on the road. It was a case of The Woods not settling well into this tricky away fixture, at the interval they found themselves two-nil down before a relaxed Droitwich Spa added yet another goal before Shortwood substitute Elliot Martin grabbed a consolation goal in the 88th minute to wrap up a dismal display by the Gloucestershire side.

Despite their lack in defence, Shortwood can be very prolific, they have high-quality players who can deliver and put themselves on the scoresheet such as Alfie Bradshaw, Daniel Gaynor and Elliot Martin.

Home form has been decent as they are well-followed and supported home and away from Gloucestershire, playing eleven games away from the Meadowbank and picking up eighteen points (W6,D0,L5). Fairly inconsistent and with the Green Ultra’s behind the Kidlington,
this could be a tough test for Shortwood United as they pursue their playoff push.

Recent Form:
Kidlington FC
Kidlington kicked things off at Yarnton Road against Wellington, dazzling with passion as the Greens convincingly won by four goals to one, the key action was a brace scored by Louis Townsend within 6 minutes of each other.

A trip to Stratford awaited Kiddy, they however left deflated and deprived as the damage was already dealt in the first half with the Reserves trailing three-nil at the break; before another Stratford finish and a consolation goal wrapped up a disappointing away performance.

Slow to get off the mark, a lack in concentration, the Reserves had all the problems when they travelled to Bewdley Town, four minutes was all it took before Ben Worthington opened the scoring, the floodgates opened and before you knew it, Kidlington were four-nil down
with twenty-five minutes to go.

Yarnton Road hosted another Gloucestershire club last weekend, Cheltenham Saracens who came into this match dreading the goal difference that sat between them and the bottom three. Oxfordshire Derby Day rolled around, all evens until the 75th minute when Ryan Chambers slotted in an easy, close range shot after an initial shot rattled the post allowing an easy goal for Chambers! This gave Kidlington all three points away at Carterton (0-1).

Shortwood United:
Shortwood started off February hosting Abingdon United pushing for promotion, this game despite being end-to-end, a point apiece was the outcome with a stalemate 0-0 draw at the Meadowbank.

Joseph Tryner opened the scoring on the half an hour mark for Shortwood, before Ryan Clarke’s hattrick sealed the deal for Ludlow to win 3-1. Shortwood were back on the road yet again, this time they faced Wantage Town.

Although, Bradshaw and Gayner’s goals surely would be enough for a point, it wasn’t as the Woods struggled to get started being two-nil down after 30 minutes against a dominant Wantage United. A home game finally back on the horizon for Shortwood as they host Wellington, struggling to survive in the relegation zone.

The Woods took advantage of this statistic and pounced on their backline going into the interval 3-1 to the good before having an unreal second half winning 8-2 against Wellington. Elliot Martin scoring one, Alfie Bradshaw with a hattrick and Daniel Gayner scoring FOUR to convincingly give all three points to Shortwood United. Elliot Martin’s 88th minute consolation goal was nowhere near enough to their standard when they travelled to Droitwich Spa as they failed to get going being two down at the interval before extending their lead in the second half, relaxing and cruising to three points.

Match Information
Kidlington Reserves v Shortwood United
Hellenic League Division One
Yarnton Road, OX5 1AT
Saturday 8th March | 15:00