No points but superb commitment

After the decent performance at Chinnor, Town were looking to start the same eleven but this was scuppered by injury to or unavailability of Max Brown,Jim Davies, Adam King and Chace Jewell. However, Lemar Maycock, Omar Cofie and James Pheby were back and Matty Bennett, Graham High, Martin Peters and Tyrone May were called up after the Reserve game was called off on Saturday morning. In addition, the bench was boosted by the return of Conor Southgate from the North East.

On a damp and blustery day, Woodley kicked off the first half playing down wind and a pass from Jez West found Omar Cofie on the right who cut in powerfully past two defenders to unleash a shot wide of the far post. A minute later and with only two minutes on the clock, Headington had the ball in the net, skilfully converted by Ollie Zaja after neat build up play.

Any prospect of another collapse was soon ended by the fighting spirit of the Woodley players. Although not pretty to watch, Town kept the league challengers at bay for most of the first half, Richard Wilkinson called upon to make a decent save on 24 minutes and a brilliant tip over the bar from clse range on 27. Unfortunately Town picked up two yellows during this period, Lee Wheeler for kicking the ball away and Mike Alleyne for dissent.

In the second half, Woodley immediately gained the upper hand and were unlucky not to equalise when Cofie ran at the defence only to skew his shot over. This was followed by a Jordan Goddard cross which was nodded on by Jez West for Cofie to head over the leaping keeper. A defender acrobatically scissor kicked the ball to safety whilst Cofie and team mates tried unsuccessfully to persuade the referee that the ball had crossed over the line.

With Woodley really taking the match to Headington, Mike Alleyne spurned a glorious chance to equalise. A Gareth Davies pass was perfectly rolled on to him by Cofie and, with the keeper to beat from the right side of goal, Alleyne chose to blast it and the shot sailed a foot over the bar.

With still half an hour to go, Southgate was introduced for West on the right and the formation changed to 4:4:2. Although both forwards continued to look lively this let Headingtom back into the match with their midfield three getting the better of Woodley's two, despite the energy and commitment of both Wheeler and Alleyne. However, Headington rarely offered more than shots from long distance as centre backs Dan Watkiss and James Pheby kept it tidy at the back.

With Cofie hobbling slightly after putting in a great shift, Tyrone May was introduced into the action in his place but with the formation reverting to 4:5:1. The last few minutes were frenetic as Woodley tried to push forward and get a deserved point. However, Headington were strong to the end and ran out 1-0 winners.

This was a battling display by Woodley Town, their best for a dozen or so matches. Particular mention should go to Matt Bennett who was drafted in late but played his heart out at left back, deservedly sharing the sponsor's man of the match award with Dan Watkiss.

The next match is at home to Rayners Lane on 28th December at 2pm.

Squad: Wilkinson, G. Davies, Bennett, Alleyne (capt), Pheby, Watkiss, West (Southgate), Wheeler, Cofie (May), Goddard, Maycock. Unused subs: High, Peters