Match Rpeort by Alastair Whatley
Southgate’s Men put their first point on the board for the new season with a hard fought 2-2 draw against Oxted at Caterham School on Saturday afternoon. This followed a return north on Sunday afternoon for the long away trip back to Brooklands after the mid-game abandonment of the first fixture on the 20th September.
Oxted have long been a great Southgate rival, with hard fought and competitive games stretching back to when both clubs battled it out for supremacy in Division One. Now firmly established in the Premier Division and following Oxted’s appearance at the Premier Division finals back in May- the stage was set for a big game as Southgate looked to bounce back from their 0-9 loss against Old Georgians.
Oxted came out of the traps faster and the Nick Giles coached side took an early lead from Peter Jarvis in the 10th minute before Jarvis converted his brace from open play in the 20th giving the home side a comfortable 2 goal lead. Yet Gate responded immediately and Nat Farrant scored Southgate’s first goal of the season 4 minutes later, turning the ball over in the circle after a Charles Hamilton ball created havoc in the Oxted D. Farrant calmly picked up the ball and leathered it past the near post of Oxted GK Max Christopher. The score then staying at 1-2 into half time, Erdal Demir in the Southgate goal doing sterling week to repel the Oxted advances.
It took until the 55th minute for the next goal which was a smartly converted second phase ball slapped home by Xavier Guy outfoxing the Oxted defensive line to level the contest and 15 tense minutes later secured this crucial away point.
300 miles and 20 hours later Southgate emerged at Brooklands in Cheshire and saw an early lead slip following a well taken goal by Rajan Shukla. Despite some golden opportunities in front of the Brooklands goal to put the game to bed, Southgate were left to rue what might have been as a well drilled Brooklands side led by coach Ken Gardiner were let back into the contest.
The home ground cheered on as Daniel Vincent equalised in the 44th minute before captain Peter Flanagan converted a 55 minute PC which capitalised on Southgate being down to 10 men with a yellow card. Despite concerted efforts to get back on top, the game was put to bed by the enthusiastic home side in the 67th minute as Carlton Mentoor converted from another corner. A tough result at the end of a long weekend for the team who look to bounce back with their second home game of the season against former coach Kwan Browne and his Holcombe players who travel to Southgate on Saturday for a big showdown.
