Dillon’s header secures villagers place in county final

WOODCOTE secured their place in the Oxfordshire Intermediate Cup final last Saturday after beating visitors Bersinsfield in what was a tense and full-blooded encounter played out in front of more than 100 spectators.

The windy conditions and occasion meant that throughout the match good football was at a premium and the referee was forced to use his whistle regularly to signal fouls. Berinsfield were marginally quicker out of the blocks and might have taken the lead after eight minutes, but somehow a forward managed to shoot over from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Shortly afterwards, Mike Mattimore had the ball in the net for Woodcote but was ruled offside.

The next clear chance fell to Berinsfield from a free kick and Woodcote were fortunate that keeper Steve McMullen was in top form as he dived to save the shot and then managed to block the follow-up.

Woodcote took the lead after 35 minutes when Mattimore was the provider as he left defenders sprawling in his wake only to see his shot blocked, but the ball rebounded to Matt Ploszynski who fired home.

The second half was less than a minute old when Berinsfield levelled the score with a close-range shot and soon afterwards, McMullen was again called upon to make a good save to deny the visitors the lead. On 55 minutes, the tie appeared to have turned in Woodcote’s favour as Berinsfield were reduced to 10 men. Joe Webber was clean through and bearing down on goal when he was brought down and the offender was shown a red card.

Webber soon found himself in a good position again, but he was thwarted by a fine save. Berinsfield refused to lie down in spite of the numerical disadvantage and on the hour mark they were awarded a penalty for a foul by Ryan Corbett. The penalty was a good one, but McMullen’s save was outstanding.

With 10 minutes remaining, Woodcote scored the decisive goal and it owed everything to long-serving twins Frank and Jake Dillon. Frank’s inch-perfect free kick found Jake whose back-header found the net, the keeper having rushed from goal and failed to make contact. The home side then found themselves reduced to 10 men as Ofari Boateng was shown a second yellow card for a foul.

The last 10 minutes were nervous ones, and it took yet another good save from man-of-the-match McMullen to see Woodcote through to the final, where they will play Easington Sports on a date and at a venue yet to be decided.

The last time Woodcote played in this final (and won the cup) was in 1976 when they played Easington Sports with club president, Sam Peates and club groundsman, Stuart Higley, in the team.