Bedfordshire F.A. Senior Trophy
2nd Round
Saturday 30th October 2021
Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.03
A.F.C. Oakley 3 Queens Park Crescents 2 (abandoned 59 mins, player injury), attendance 94
18’ 0-1
23’ 1-1
41’ 1-2
54’ 2-2
59’ 3-2
@ Oakley Sports & Social Club
Church Lane
Oakley
MK43 7RJ
No Admission
Programme free, 32 pages.
There are three Step 7 leagues I rarely bother with, apart from the odd midweek game, when there is little choice to go at, these being the Northants Combination, the Peterborough & District League and the Bedfordshire County League. However, the latter of these three had thrown up a decent looking tie in the Bedfordshire F.A. Senior Trophy, where an all Premier Division clash would see 2nd in the league table host 3rd.
Oakley are unbeaten so far this season and will go top of the table if they win their game in hand over leaders Caldecote. QPC have only lost once themselves and if it wasn’t for a point being deducted from their total, then they would be level on points with Oakley, albeit having played one match more. The two looked evenly matched and that was just how it turned out.
QPC went in front, when an angled shot across the ‘keeper found the far corner of the net, but Oakley were level within five minutes, stabbing in from close range after a cross wasn’t cleared. QPC regained the lead four minutes before halftime, their No.9 grabbing his second goal, superbly controlling a cross from the left with one touch, before smashing it past the ‘keeper.
Oakley piled on the pressure from the start of the second half and drew level nine minutes in. The winger beat two men and pulled back a cross that was headed in at the near post. Five minutes later they went in front, the ball finding it’s way into the net following a scramble in the 6 yard box. Unfortunately, the scorer, Matt Barnes, remained on the ground, clutching his leg. From the reaction of the players in the vicinity, it was obvious it was a bad injury.
An ambulance was called and amazingly it arrived just ten minutes after the injury occurred. The Referee had abandoned the game a few minutes earlier, but I don’t think either team wanted to continue anyway, such was the severity of the injury. Hopefully the player will make a full recovery and from the club Twitter feed, it appears he has already undergone a first operation and is ‘doing well’.
