Oakwood toast victory with Wine
FOOTBALL Dan Kristall expressed relief after an injury-time strike from Brad Wine kept Oakwood’s title bid on track, despite a brave effort from Camden Park.
The defending MGBSFL Premier Division champions were far from their fluent best against a resilient Camden team fighting for survival.
Grant Bates, a recent arrival from L’Equipe, had given Camden a shock lead, but parity was restored when Dave Woolman hauled Oakwood level.
Camden regained the lead through Max Martin, but another equaliser from the industrious Woolman set up a grandstand finish.
With David Khalatschi and Josh Tiano impressing in defence for Camden, it looked as though they had done enough to frustrate Oakwood until Wine settled the match with the last kick of the game.
Oakwood joint-manager Kristall said: “This was a very hard-fought win. We scraped past a few teams last year on route to the title and it’s impossible to play champagne football every week.
“However, it is a results business at all levels of the game and we got the result. If you can win when you aren’t at your best, its a sign of a good team. Once again we showed our battling character with Brad’s late goal and this could prove to be a big win.
“We must improve. We have got nowhere near our best yet. The second half of last year we were much stronger and we expect that to be the case again.” Camden manager Stirling Kay admits the result was hard to take. He said: “We battled so hard throughout, but undoubtedly we finish 2017 on a high with this performance.
“We have been hit with so many long-term injuries and players not being available and getting 11 out each week has been an achievement. “We are really looking forward to having at least five or six players back from injuries and other commitments from the beginning of the new year.
“And with new signings Max and Grant we are very confident we can climb the table and carry on our cup run.”