The game between Marston Saints and Ardington Saturday 13th November started with a two minute silence respected perfectly by the young players on both sides which was a credit to all.

From the kick off it was clear that Ardington were a confident and strong passing side as they began to take the game to the home side. Marston for their part was well disciplined and defended well as a team as both sides played out a tight first five minutes. Ardington did look the most likely to score however and the pressure eventually told as Joseph Flanagan reacted quickly in the penalty area and fired home confidently. Marston responded and grew into the game with Luke Barney playing strongly in midfield. After winning a series of corners that did not lead to any goal scoring chances, Marston finally got a real opportunity and fired home the equalizer with Femi Adewuyi slotting in left footed off the far post.

Both sides were having their fair share of possession and the game looked to be heading to half time at parity. With just a minute to go and following a good passing move George Hawkswood shot from which the Ardington keeper made an excellent save, the ball came out of the penalty area and Joseph Oates shot left footed from long range into the roof of the net over the outstretched arms of the recovering keeper.

Ardington came out again in the second half with more excellent passing and Aleks Novakovic at the back for Marston had to make a number of interceptions to keep Marston ahead. Half way through the second half an Ardington attack broke down and the ball came out to the Marston left hand side. Luca Erdbeer who had moved up to midfield at the start of the second half broke strongly and ran from halfway, cut into the box and shot to the far post. Again the keeper saved well and pushed the ball away only for Jed Fawke to react quickly and slot home from four yards under pressure from an Ardington defender. The last five minutes saw increasing pressure from the visiting side and the Marston side were grateful for the heroics of their keeper Samuel Racz who made a number of saves to defend the Marston lead. Marston called on Jack McEwan from the substitute bench and he was able to break down the right hand side to keep the Ardington defence honest as the game headed toward its conclusion. At the final whistle Marston had run out 3 – 1 winners.

Both sides displayed an appetite to play football through passing and it was a great game to watch for the large crowd present.

In game two Ardington again showed a strong passing game and lead early through two excellent goals. Marston battled hard following this tough start and the game was as competitive as the first until early in the second half when Ardington began to get on top and finished strongly to run out winners.