Cropredy travelled to Littlemarsh Playing Fields looking to make it back to back wins for the first time in 2022 after their win at home to Halse United last weekend.

Alex Palmer fell victim to Covid and there were initial concerns over the fitness of Ruben Torego so Sean Dineen returned to the starting line up after missing last week and Connor Hancock was called up to first team duty slotting in midfield. Ben Smithers was also promoted from the Development Team and made the bench.

Cropredy made a useful start to the game and we’re almost ahead in the opening minute when Ben Rogers was picked out wide on the left and cut inside but his shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

On 11 minutes, Jack Welch struck a free-kick parallel to the goal from 30 yards. It seemed to be heading over but dipped at the last and struck the crossbar. Moments later Aaron Dineen created a chance from a second phase of a corner and his cross flashed across the face of goal and was met by Luke Ulla Thomas at the back post who headed wide.

After a good start to the game, Crop were sucker punched on 13 minutes. A through ball was miscalculated by the Cropredy defence and Yarnton’s central striker was presented with a one on one but managed to get a shot away and converted past James Cutts in goal.

Cropredy’s early pressure eased after the goal for the next 20 minutes until Ben Rogers decided to let fly from a distance of approximately 40 yards and his speculative shot struck a post meaning Crop were denied by the goal frame for the second time.

Yarnton had just the one shot up to this point but they almost doubled their lead on 36 minutes with a shot that was destined for the far corner but for Cutts’s save tipping the ball over the bar.

H-T 1-0

In similar fashion to the first half Cropredy started the brighter again and had a couple of early shots denied from Rogers and A.Dineen. The best chance however came to Welch who worked his way past the right back in the box and aimed to slot inside the near post but was denied by the Yarnton goalkeeper.

On the hour mark Yarnton Doubled their lead converting a cross into the box. They then almost wrapped up the points there and then when a similar opportunity was struck against the crossbar at point blank range.

With just the two goal deficit to make up and a third of the game still to go Cropredy aimed for the goal that could get them back back into the game. Welch was once again denied by the Yarnton goalkeeper this time from a free-kick on target. A goal eventually came with five minutes left on the clock. Luke Ulla Thomas was given a license to push further forward in the closing stages and found himself with a chance on the edge of the box which was neatly converted to half the arrears.

Cropredy tried for an equaliser but found the Yarnton Penalty area to be very crowded and difficult to get shots away and main goal threat A.Dineen was tightly marked by multiple defenders.

So Cropredy fell to a third defeat to Yarnton this season, who have become somewhat of a ‘bogey team’ for them this season. Next week they host a Launton Sports side who sit in a similar position in the league table where points will be vital in Cropredy’s aim of achieving a finish as high up the league as possible.

Cropredy: Cutts, Wheatley(Smithers 65), Truman, Liverpool (Brown 85), S.Dineen, Ulla Thomas, Hancock (Torego 80), Dunham (Allum 60), Rogers, Welch (C), A.Dineen

Goal:

Ulla Thomas 85