Wait Goes On For Greens - Kidlington vs. Farnborough

Cloudy skies over Yarnton Road

This weekend's game would see two sides play each other who were a full division apart last season. Kidlington won the Hellenic League last season to seal promotion to The Southern League Division One Central while their opponents Farnborough were demoted from The Isthmian Premier Division for financial irregularities. When I visited Farnborough's Cherrywood Lane, they were in The Conference South and they played St Albans on that day. Back to this season and the two sides had made mixed starts to the season - Kidlington had draw one and lost one game so far while Farnborough had won one and lost one so far. Farnborough had Jaime Cureton playing for them as he tried to get himself another crack at league football.    

Kick off at Yarnton Road

Farnborough have an early chance when the attacker is found in space at the back with a corner but his headed effort is bounced over the bar. They cause more panic in the home defence with another corner which is cleared away at the second time of asking. Farnborough take the lead as a ball in is not fully cleared and the ball is lashed home from close range. Farnborough then have two chances to double their lead. Firstly a shot following a pull back is well saved before the second chance is weakly headed straight at the keeper. Kidlington's first chance on goal is a shot which is blocked in the air and the Farnborough keeper makes a good low save to keep out the second effort.

The Farnborough keeper claims the ball in the first half

Farnborough almost grab a second immediately after the restart but the forward puts his free header wide of the target. Kidlington then have a good spell of pressure as a good cross into the Farnborough box is headed away. Then as the winger gets to the byline, his pull back unfortunately eludes everyone. Kidlington almost gift Farnborough the second as they are caught in possession in midfield and from the resulting attack the Kidlington keeper has to make a decent save. However, from the resulting corner Farnborough make it two nil with a close range  header. Farnborough seal the points with a penalty after the attacker is felled in the box and the forward makes no mistake from the spot.

The Farnborough winger attacks the clubhouse end

Until recently to get to Kidlington you had to get a bus from Oxford but now there is the Oxford Parkway station to the south of the village. Trains here depart from Marylebone every half hour and the journey takes just under an hour. The ground is then a half hour walk away. A short stroll from the ground is The Black Horse and The Red Lion which are both set up as gastro pubs but both had decent beer as well as the sports channels. The clubhouse had a good selection of drinks as well as the sports channels.

Another view of the stand