The Town see Round 2! AFC North Leatherhead 1-2 Old Oxted Town
By Ben Lyons
AFC NORTH LEATHERHEAD 1-2 OLD OXTED TOWN FC
A late winner puts Old Oxted Town through to the second round of the Surrey County Cup after beating AFC North Leatherhead in their own backyard.
Old Oxted Town go into this game with a lot of confidence after beating Copthorne in the league 4-0 the week prior. This was evident after a very strong start from the away side with the energetic Oliver Lam and Captain Jackson Knight causing problems for the Leatherhead defence. The first major chance was 5 minutes in when a freekick struck the post from Midfielder Harvey Westerman.
However North Leatherhead grew into the game and started to test the Old Oxted defence with their two pacey strikers. 25 minutes in Leatherhead began to ramp up the pressure and found their first goal through winger Jack J. The tricky winger got past the town full back and walked the ball into the box then slotted it into the back of the net putting the hosts 1-0. The rest of the half was back and forth from both sides, with the hosts pushing for a second and Old Oxted Town trying to find their feet again.
At the Half time interval, Old Oxted Town manager Malcom Jarvis made a few changes to try and claw a result back. One of the substitutes was Old Oxted Town's youngest player Sam Luard aged 17 who made an instant impact. Two minutes into the second half the skillful sub peeled away from the defenders and found himself 1 on 1 with the North Leatherhead Goalkeeper and Luard slid the ball past the Goalkeeper to put the game all square.
Throughout the second half AFC North Leatherhead continued to pile on the pressure with a few excellent strikes forcing Old Oxted’s Goalkeeper Anthony Wall to make some impressive saves keeping his side in the Game. The atmosphere round the ground was very anxious as penalties loomed, However it was in the 84th minute where Old Oxted Town Midfielder Joss Wagstaff sprayed a ball out wide to Wing Back Isaac Mccready who took the ball down and shifted it onto his right foot just inside the box and struck the ball under the goalkeeper into the back of the net. The Wing Backs first ever town goal puts the away side into the next round of the Surrey cup in their debut game in the competition.
By Ben Lyons
OLD OXTED TOWN SQUAD: Wall,House,Virley,James,Carpenter,Timson,Mccready (84’), Wagstaff,Westerman,Knight,Lam SUBS: Luard(46’),Gostt,Barker