1st team go nap with win at Finchampstead

On a warm October afternoon in front of a large crowd, Woodley’s mean defence came up against a Finchampstead team who had scored four goals on four occasions this season including their last two outings. With the hosts having strengthened their squad in recent weeks a tight affair was predicted and so it proved with Finchampstead closing the visitors down at every opportunity and denying Woodley the space in which to play football.

Arguably the turning point in the game was in the fifty fifth minute when home captain and centre back Sam Green became involved in an incident in the Woodley half and was subsequently dismissed. While the game remained tight, seventeen minutes later Adbul Kamara’s deft touch in the Finchampstead penalty area created a rare chance for Woodley which Charlie Oakley converted for his seventh goal of the season.

The tone of the game was set in the opening eight minutes with Finchampstead conceding free kicks close to their penalty area but which Greg Beckett and Jake Nicholls saw their set pieces cleared without troubling the home keeper Neil Griffith.

However, with right winger Kylo Atkinson proving dangerous and looking to run at United’s defence at every opportunity the visitors were pushed onto the back foot and reliant on the counter attack with the best chance coming on thirty four minutes when a multi pass move involving Abdul Kamara and Jake Nicholls resulted in Greg Beckett shooting wide.

Finchampstead finished the half strongly with the dangerous Atkinson being denied on a number of occasions by Woodley’s keeper Alex Reed’s to keep the match scoreless at the break.

Playing down the slope the home side started the second half strongly with Reed again being called upon as United struggled to make headway into the host’s half. With the sending off came the opportunity for Woodley to play higher up the pitch with Oakley seeing a goal bound shot cleared for a corner and Adam Nditi’s free kick from distance dropping onto the roof of Griffith’s net at the seventy minutes mark.

This period of pressure paid off with Oakley’s decisive goal which in turn spurred Finchampstead to finish strongly with man of the match Reed making a double save and Idris Kamara surviving home appeals for a penalty when the ball was drilled at pace onto his arm.

With the final whistle was a sense of relief as Woodley maintain their 100% league record and showed their desire to win when not playing as well as they can do.