Oxford Hawks Mens 2’s vs Oxford Hawks Mens 3s – 28.09.24

A tricky away game at BRN saw us up against the Hawks 3s in an early season Hawks derby in front of a healthy. Neither the change of dressing room, nor the 45 min delay due to lack of umpires (blame the home side) fazed anyone, and while it took us 20 mins or so to hit top gear we ran out comfortable winners, 2-0.

After a cagy start in which we dominated possession without creating many attacking chances, the first goal was a casual Dan flick from a straight-forward short corner routine taking us in 1-0 at the break. Although winning possession throughout, it wasn’t all plain sailing, with Barnaby rescuing us on a couple of occasions when the 3s broke quickly. We grew into the game more in the 2nd half and well deserved the 2nd goal provided by Felix White. Arguably we could, and probably should have had more later in the game as Oscar Ford in the other net was much the busier keeper.

There were signs this week that this side is slowly gelling its youth with its experience and the spirit in the team is growing with more communication on the pitch. Arguably the biggest robbery of the day happened at tea, where Austin and Charlie Hill were let off shocking post-match celebrations with the crowd, whilst a small collision in the warmup with Barnaby cost Fraser 25 minutes of his Sunday writing this report. All round, a better performance than matchday 1 providing something to build on vs Abingdon next week.

Goals: Dan Andrews, Felix White

MoM: Jack Smart

DoD : Fraser Mackenzie