Fitness tells

Our recent run of form ended forlornly on a chilly afternoon in Oxford when we went down 5-0.
Jas, born in the tropics, seemed reluctant to face the elements but emerged from the changing room in time to stretch one or two muscles in a truncated warm up routine.
The scoreline looks emphatic but did not reflect the balance of play especially in the first half which ended with us 2-0 down. Their skipper said at half time that they were fortunate to be ahead . Indeed it was a very even half with the ball being smoothed around by both sides. Poor George’s dodgy hamstring lasted barely 10 minutes allowing Rob to hand over his umpiring duties and enter the fray. Our forwards built up play well with some dashing runs by Dave and our flying Dutchman but we missed several chances, notably from 4 or 5 short corners .
In the second half, we didn’t play that badly but it was apparent they were generally fitter than us, stretching us and notching up 3 more goals. Again we had our chances and further short corners but it was not our day.
Lots of effort from us but Oxford as a whole had slightly greater levels of skill and held their positions well as we lost our shape.
Our skipper will be back next week from his well- earned rest in warmer parts. Jas will doubtless be hoping his own parts are warmer next week.