Reaction to losing 4-2 at Hednesford

[Mark Neal]

from one of there fans:-

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Excellent result against a good footballing side who had us under the cosh in the second half. Fortune favoured us this week with the elements heavily in our favour over the 90 minutes (the wind died a bit in the second half) and a missing team bus conspiring to help us to a fine win.

My MOM was Jags - his goal was superbly struck and he protected our back 4 well. Midfield was cause for concern in the second half - too often Oxford picked their way through us, but we dug deep and held on well.

Only 305 at the game - yes, the weather will have put a few off and it was the biggest gate in the whole SL today, but I would like to think our good run over the last half dozen games would see more people making an effort to attend

[Mark Neal]

by the looks of it the weather and key reffing descions went against us...

Well like to hear from someone who was there???

[DavidJ]

Weather was atrocious but I could not really tell whether the wind and rain were more in their favour in the first half. There was plenty of cover so we were not out in the elements. I do not think it had that much effect on the game insofar as it did not appear to make much difference to goal kicks etc coming straight back at you as I have seen in other games. Maybe I am wrong.

The referee was a bit of a homer. The most laughable decision was when one of the City players won the ball with a sliding tackle, a Hednesford player came along, jumped over the City player, fell over on landing and got a free kick from which they almost scored. However, the result was more down to bad defending and giving the ball away too much than the referee and linesmen, especially in the first half. Not sure what the penalty was for but there did not seem to be many complaints, second was a good strike from the edge of the area but they had plenty of time to play the ball around and the third was a long ball from the keeper which we did not deal with well and they stuck it in.

Highlight of the first half for me from a City point of view was Mark Janes picking up the ball in the City half, beating about four men before putting in a great shot from just outside the area which the keeper saved well. It looked as if it was going in the top corner. I thought 3-0 flattered Hednesford a bit but they took their chances and we did not create that much to be fair. We were much better in the second half and could have snatched a draw, I think, but at 3-1 some more bad defending from a free kick or corner (I can't remember) made it 4-1 and that was game over really despite us getting another goal back. If we had got it back to 3-2 they might have buckled but it was quite comfortable for them to hold out at 4-2.