Witney & District League
Division 2
Friday 21st March 2025
Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.29!
Uffington United 6 Yarnton ‘B’ 1, attendance 28
10’ 0-1
13’ 1-1
34’ 2-1
54’ 3-1
69’ 4-1
81’ 5-1
90’ 6-1
@ Uffington Sports & Social Club
Fawler Road
Uffington
SN7 7SD
No Admission or Programme.
Apart from an organised ‘hop game here some years ago, I can’t remember a first team game having been played here under floodlights during the winter months. Most midweeks are staged during the lighter months, when the lights are not required, so it was the perfect opportunity to tick this one off tonight.
It is a cracking ground for this level of football. Entering off Fawler Road, the car park and clubhouse/changing rooms are behind the near goal end. The pitch runs lengthways away from here and is fully railed and has a large brick built dugout on the right hand side, divided for use of both teams, with a cricket pitch behind. Unfortunately, the floodlights aren’t great, but they were good enough to get the game played, which was the most important thing.
The match was 1st versus 3rd in the league table. Uffington led second in the table Deer Park Rangers by six points coming into this, but have played two games more. They’ve only lost once each and crucially play each other here in the final game of the season, with Uffington currently having a far better goal difference. It looks like the best Yarnton can realistically finish is the third place they now occupy, as they are four points adrift and will only have two games to play after tonight.
Yarnton took the lead after ten minutes, volleying into the bottom corner after a diagonal free kick into the box was flicked on, but their lead only lasted three minutes, when a corner from the right wasn’t cleared and was scrambled in from close range. Uffington edged in front just after the half hour mark, when another corner from the right was headed in powerfully from 6 yards. Three minutes into the second half it was 3-1, finishing with an angled shot into the far corner and there would be no way back for the visitors. A through ball that was fumbled by the ‘keeper, then followed in, made it 4-1 with just over twenty minutes left and after an angled shot that found the bottom corner, via the aid of a deflection saw goal number five arrive, before they made it 6-1 in the final minute, with an angled shot that went in off the far post.
There was no rain forecast, but it rained for almost the entire first half and for the early stages of the second, but the pitch was in good condition, so not a problem. Very empty M25 on the outbound journey, probably helped by the closure of Heathrow Airport and only had a slight delay on the same motorway on the way home, as they were starting to cone off the outside two lanes in readiness for yet another full weekend closure. If you can believe them, this will be the last such inconvenience, although as they’re way behind schedule (should have been completed by next month), nothing would surprise me.
