With a good performance against Yarnton Reserves under their belts the previous weekend, Cropredy Devs made the journey down to Kennington, with the chance of winning the league and securing promotion still in their own hands with 3 games remaining. Kennington had dropped points on the prior Tuesday evening, struggling to break down a resilient Yarnton Res side, and having to settle for a 0-0 draw on the night. This meant Kennington had extra incentive for a victory in this one with the top of the table very tight.

The reverse fixture was a high scoring one back in September at Williamscot Road, with Crop coming out 6-2 winners on the day. That, one of only two league defeats for Kenny this season going into this game.

Team news
Manager Reading tried to maintain consistency with team selection, and made only a handful of changes. Kev Cooper returned from injury to the back line, with Truman shifting to full back, and Alex Morrish into midfield in place of Torego. The only other change was a start for young Callum Moon, with Vice Captain Ash Balfour away. Bobby Stewart, Mo Samasa and Alex Palmer returned to the squad as subs, whilst there was also welcome returns for skipper Corey Phillips and Leo Beales, who were fit enough to get kitted up as emergency subs.

First half

It was a lovely sunny afternoon in Oxfordshire, and there was a healthy attendance in Kennington, with some of the North Leigh Devs players watching and keenly awaiting the result. It was the away side who started the brighter and were ahead with only 5 minutes on the clock. A long kick up field by ‘keeper Sam Roberts found Kyran Beales out right who was able to take a touch and then feed the ball inside. Luckily attacking midfielder Matt Allum had read the situation and latched perfectly onto the pass. Without breaking stride he made two touches to take him away from the defender, and slid it nicely past the onrushing Kennington stopper, to put Crop ahead. 0-1.

Kenny came out firing looking for an equaliser, but Crop had their goalkeeper to thank, with Roberts producing a smart stop to deny a close-range effort. The home side should have equalised moments later as a wriggling run from Haines saw he beat 3 players but fired his effort wide with the goal gapping. Despite the home side coming into the game, Crop were also guilty of not taking chances. A nice bit of play saw Moon slide in Robertson down the left, he beat the keeper to it, but his cut back across goal was skewed wide by Beales.

The failed chance came back to bite Crop, as Kennington equalised from a well taken free kick from 25 yards by Rob Andrews on 37 minutes. Cropredy spurred another great chance late in the half, with Callum Moon involved again, as he got past the full back down the left, but his pinpoint cross was headed wide by Kyran Beales from a few yards out.

The sides went in level at the break, which was probably fair given the number of missed chances for both.

Half time – Kennington Res 1-1 Cropredy Devs

The first good chance of the second period fell to the visitors, as Kyran Beales latched on to a poor Kenny pass in field, but as he set himself for the shot, a defender got back and put in a superb last ditch block. The home sides next chance came as a in-swinging free kick from wide right, looped off the head of Alex Morrish and onto the top of his own cross bar. Both sides felt that a goal was coming.

Cropredy had Sam Roberts to thank once again as he made a number of superb stops, after Kennington had pounced on a couple of defensive errors, but couldn’t find the net, and when Roberts was beaten by a corner, Allum was on hand to head clear off the line. Crop introduced Alex Palmer and Bobby Stewart, for Moon and Morrish respectively, as they tried to interject some more energy.

The subs would go on to play their part. Cropredy managed to regather and recycle the ball following their own corner. Palmer won it back, before the ball found Truman in the middle of the pitch, who in turn played it wide right to Stewart. Stewart played a delightful first time cross over to the back post, where Palmer was on hand to power a header towards goal, and under the arms of the despairing ‘keeper, to spark wild celebrations amongst the away side. 77 minutes on the clock as Crop regained the lead. Samasa was then introduced for some fresh legs at the back, in place of Jake Harvey.

Cropredy celebrations almost turned to despair within moments. Kennington rushed forward from the kick off and forced Truman to give the ball away. The attacker raced towards goal and hit his effort straight at Roberts, before running into Cooper. To the surprise of everyone the referee pointed to the spot, to give Kenny a chance to draw level immediately. Cooper was booked for the challenge, and Cropredy were reduced to 10 temporarily as Stewart was sin binned in the protests.

Up stepped captain Keiron Hughes but his effort was well saved by Roberts, and the rebound was blazed over the bar. Big let off for the away side, who now had to try and see out the remainder of the game.

Cropredy somehow managed to see out the remaining period, and were relieved when the final whistle sounded, and could celebrate a huge three points in the title race.

Full time – Kennington Res 1-2 Cropredy Devs

A well fought game that could have gone either way at times, with both sides spurring some great chances. The win moves Cropredy up to second, ahead of their penultimate league game against Yarnton Res on Tuesday night. It is a home fixture for Crop but being played at Yarnton with Williamscot Road now unavailable due to cricket. A big 10 days ahead with the final two leagues game to play, with the Ivor Gubbins Cup Final in between.

The game did end on a sour note, due to an alleged spitting incident involving Kennington’s player manager, but that one is now with the authorities to deal with so we’ll make no further comment.

Man of the Match – Sam Roberts/Matt Allum
Joint this week, as hard to split these players. Roberts made some vital saves throughout, including the penalty save. Had that gone in it would have swung the game and Kennington may well have gone on to turn the game around. Roberts has been a steady presence since moving between the sticks in recent games. Allum put in another huge display, he scored the first goal, but his work rate was superb, and was in the right place and the right time on a number of occasions with vital blocks and clearances.