Oxford Hawks Boys U14’s vs Oxford City U14’s – 06.10.24

The U14 Boys played their first league game of the season against local rivals Oxford.  For many it was their first experience of 11-a-side and they were well briefed by Austin on positioning and "protecting the pockets".

The game started pretty evenly with plenty of flow from one end to the other.  The first real opportunity fell to Oxford but they were denied a goal from a short corner; despite hitting the top of the backboard, it was too high as it crossed the goal line.

Oxford's pressure paid off and they got their first goal at 23 mins with their second on the half time whistle.  Hawks started to find their flow in the second half, Austin's shouts of "outside" were increasingly answered and we saw some lovely passages of play.

Oxford got a third goal early in the second half but this time we were able to respond, with the Hawks goal coming halfway through the second half.  It was a lovely finish for Toby Lloyd off the post.

Towards the end, Hawks started to tire and our high press showed a few cracks letting Oxford through a couple more times to finish the game 5-1.  There was some great hockey at times and lots of potential on show.

Player of the match went to Jago Behagg for his tireless work in midfield. DOD (Donkey of the Day) was awarded to Issac Williams, but no-one could quite describe the reasons why!

The result puts us in 4th place in the league and we're set to take on 5th place Amersham & Chalfont next week.