Kidlington 3 Cheltenham Saracens 1

The match started pretty evenly possession wise, but as we went past the first 10 minutes or so Cheltenham were the team looking far more up for it on the day.

Kidlington started the match by trying to play their now familiar passing game but this was proving extremely difficult on the overused surface at Yarnton Road.

Cheltenham adopted a far more direct route of playing the ball quickly up to their front runners.

There was not much goal mouth action in the first half our but just after this a bobbling shot from Kidlington's Lewis Coyle deceived the home keeper but came back off a post into his arms.

Matt Hyslop in the Kidlington goal had to turn a couple of long distance shots over the bar, but he always looked comfortable in doing this.

H.T. 0 - 0

The second half started with the home side looking more purposeful and it wasn't long before we got the opening goal.

This goal came from the penalty spot after Danny Mason was crudely fouled from behind when facing away from goal. Mason required a goodly bit of attention after the foul and had to be substituted a few minutes later!!

From the spot kick Lewis Coyle made no mistake burying his shot powerfully into the back of the net, 1 - 0 49 minutes.

Kidlington then went on the offensive and could have scored at least a couple more before Mike Duerden notched their second, as the Sara's boys heads dropped.

Danny Bone put the chance on a plate for Duerden with a fine reverse pass and Duerden flicked the ball home past the advancing keeper.

Several substitutions from both sides followed as the game slowed and we had a few unnecessary bookings.

One bright spot was the goal from Tommy Castle in the 78th minute, some good tight control and a finish from close range made it 3 - 0.

There was still time for a consolation goal for Cheltenham. In the 82nd minute Tommy Boxer was shepherding the ball out of play by the bye line, a Cheltenham player saw his chance and dived theatrically over his leg conning the Ref. Worse still Boxer was booked for the incident!

Their substitute the wonderfully named Deco Chick took it and scored placing his firmly struck shot down the middle.

There was nothing more of note as the game finally ran it's course.

I felt all the Kidlington players had their minds on other business, Tuesday's Oxfordshire Senior Cup Semi Final against Football League Division Two side Oxford United. Still a 3 - 1 win is good news and keeps alive our chances of a top 6 finish.

The Oxford United match is the clubs biggest match of the season and will be played at Yarnton Road k.o. 7:45pm. The tie will surly evoke memories of the final of this competition 3 years back when Oxford beat us 4 - 0 at the Kassam Stadium in front of a large crowd of over 1200 spectators. Maybe just maybe better fortune will smile on us this coming week!

COYG