Oakwood had a point to prove this Saturday against last seasons champions, could the Oaks deliver against their toughest opposition of the season so far.
The Oaks were missing two of their three regular midfield players but that didn’t stop the Oaks making a commanding start and dominating the 1st 20minutes. With 3 shots on goal and the forth shot nestling the back of the net. The goal came with one of the best pieces of football the Oaks have played in years.

With possession being maintained and the ball being played around the Premier division team with confidence and assertiveness. The Oaks played through the Littlehampton midfield and with a smart one, two Jamie Lovegrove played with Mark Gilbert the Littlehampton defence were opened up for Lovegrove to drill the ball into the far right hand corner and out of reach of the keeper.

The Oaks were in control and the although the defence were being stretched Littlehampton had only two real threats, the long diagonal ball trying to turn the Oaks fullback and the set piece which the Oaks managed to repel.

The Last 15mins of the the 1st half Oaks were out under increasing pressure but managed to go in to Halftime 1-0 up.

Oakwood came out in the 2nd half knowing the game was by no means over and that they would have to work hard in the last 45mins to progress through to the next round. The Oaks continued to try and play their style of football, but Littlehampton had different ideas and had 2 goals ruled out for being offside and for 35mins Oaks were battling to keep the score in their favour.

Substitute Gerald Manville was brought on to harass the Littlehampton defence and to try and keep hold of the ball in their half for as long as possible.

Manville struggled to keep the ball and the Littlehampton back for were throwing the ball back in to the Oaks final 3rd. The pressure was growing and players were picking up injuries and struggling to stay in the game.

In the 82nd minute Manville managed to find the ball at his feet inside the Littlehampton 6yards box and smashed the ball into the roof of the net, to put the Oaks 2-0 up to ease the pressure for the last 10mins.

With 4mins of the half to play the Oaks tired and Littlehampton slipped through to score 2- 1- to Oaks.
The final minutes became a nail biter for the Oaks, as Referee David Barnard found nearly 8mins of injury time which created panic in the Oaks defense and the Littlehampton Town players were bombarding them with everything they had to take the draw into extra time.

Littlehampton had committed everyone possible forward leaving Manville unmarked and the Littlehampton Town keeper way out of his area. In the dying minutes Oaks were throwing themselves in front of every shot and managed to dig the ball out of the Oak’s penalty area 10 times in the last 3minutes of the game. Manville managed to control a clearance and the Littlehampton Keeper dashed back towards his goal but Manville managed to connect sweetly with the ball and lobbed him from the half way line to seal the fate of Littlehampton Town with the last kick of the game.

Final Score
Oakwood 3 – 1 Littlehampton Town

GK - Brendan Milborrow
RB - Scott Faber
LB - Aiden Cawte
CB - Liam Coughlan
CB - Charlie Adsett
RM - Toby Gilbert
LM - Jamie Lovegrove
CM - Grant Miller
ST - Darren Tidey
ST - Lee Bruton
CF - Mark Gilbert
Subs – Gerald Manville, Liam Buchan, Jamie Wanstall,
Unused Subs – Kutaa Vwhonga