Jets Dig In For The Win

Oxhey Jets 1 Baldock Town 0
Spartan South Midlands Premier
4th December 2021

Jets got back to winning ways against Baldock Town, but it wasn’t convincing.

The first half was definitely the visitors who were denied three times by the excellent return to form by GK Lewis Todd who, apart from hitting more traffic hold-ups on the way to the match than Sandra does each week, kept Jets in the game.

Jets distribution was dreadful, and the visitors shoot on sight was far more effective than Jets playing pass the parcel, as no one wanted to take responsibility. We were second to everything.

The staff were clearly unhappy, and whatever they said sparked a total reversal. It was now Jets doing all the running, although still lacking a scoring presence the chances were being carved out by the two energetic wingers.

The only goal of the match came from an unlikely source when full-back Kenny Nobrega tapped home a perfect delivery from Darryl Bryan-Samuals just 12 mins into the second period.

Jets made changes, one being the newest debut Joe Hubbard for his first game, replacing the superb Tom Inch who was playing his 150th Jets match.

Baldock squandered a big chance in the closing minutes and pushed during the long added time, but it must be said the referee Ben Jerrams was one of the best performances we’ve seen this season, really refreshing after some disappointments recently.

Man of the match today went to today’s skipper Vass Mandeville who was running the defensive show for Jets.

Three points and a first double of the season as Town was the only league win for Jets before the club changes. Today Lady Luck was with us, but the win was earned in the end by a much improved second half.

 

Congratulations to Sean Giordmaina for winning the Adrian Flux Insurance sponsored Player of the Month Award for November.

Jets manager Kevin Christou commented “It was a very tight month with players having a lot of games. Sean suffered two terrible tackles, one hospitalising him, but he showed great spirit and commitment and bounced back with two goals and a man of the match award to clinch this month’s award”.

 

Jets Fade in the 2nd Half

Oxhey Jets 2 New Salamis 4
Spartan South Midlands Premier
30th November 2021

In a game after which there won’t be any Christmas cards being sent, Jets went down 4-2 to 3rd placed New Salamis, a Jets sending off and two converted penalties being the difference in the end.

Jets started brightly and two first-half goals from Sean Giordmaina, one a rare header, helped to give Jets a deserved 2-1 lead at the interval.

Jets, though, couldn’t follow up the impressive first-half performance and succumbed to the ongoing pressure from Salamis.

After an impressive run during October and the first half of November, Jets now seem to have lost that extra edge they had, and that is causing them to get turned over. They will be looking for better in the 3-game home stretch coming up.

Jets Blown Away

Oxhey Jets 4 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos 5
Spartan South Midlands Premier
27th November 2021

Jets literally were blown away at the Boundary stadium by Aylesbury Vale Dynamo’s who quite frankly got the points because they played the dreadful conditions better than the inexperienced Jets side.

It was an end to end game but AVD were more clinical when it counted, both had early chances and twice the visitors were denied goals with the ball in the net by the assistants flag, there were no complaints by the visitors but the assistant was definitely Jets most reliable defender today, the normally tight defence was as shaken as a wobbly Xmas Jelly as the wind was hammering up the pitch into jets faces in the first half.

A superb goal by Stapleton opened the scoring for the visitors after two saves by Todd in the Jets goal a spectacular overhead kick found the top corner giving the keeper no chance. (23 min)

Jets pushed for the early equaliser and a multi chance scramble involving multi-players was bravely kept out by the Vale keeper who smothered, blocked with anything multi attempts by the front line.

Jets levelled when a good ball from the one Jets player with imagination Tom Inch opened the defence with the perfect ball to Giordmaina whose perfect low driving cross is tapped in at the near post by top scorer Kyle Williams (30 min)

Jets needed to hold against the gale but the boost was short-lived when Berry smashed home from distance with the wind doubling the speed and it daisy cut past the keeper (35 min)

Sloppy immature defending made the job harder as Brown added a third 1-3 on 38min beating three jets defenders to slot past the keeper.

Half time Jets 1 AVD 3

Jets now had the gale, sleet was now in the wind also so jets just had to get about the job, but just two minutes in the job was almost impossible when again dreadful sloppy defending presented Short a chance from absolutely nothing to all but kill jets off 1-4 (47 mins)

Jets front three plus Inch were trying on the rare ball feed they got and on 55min Kyle Williams pulled another back 2-4 with his second of the game.

Disaster when Jets Mr Reliable was seen to be human after saving Jets in recent games and gaining at times snatched points Toddy dropped one when presented with time to spare and Stapleton was on hand to nail the pain, and really game over as Jets keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Now snow was added to the conditions as Jets flag poles were bending 45 degrees in the direction of the AVD goals.

Hope was restored with an excellent strike by Sean Giordmaina (70 mins) that was unstoppable with the win assist and jets had twenty minutes to get something.

Unfortunately, the chances were rear, you feel for you for Ricardo at the moment who can’t buy a goal as he suffers the strikers’ drought, it was all jets now but too many trying the grandmaster ball that was beyond their pay grades that were overhit or nowhere near there targets, it was actually hurting Jets not inspiring them as the clock was running down and Jets hopes being blown away.

There was a penalty appeal and the Jets wingers tried with a supply shortage but in stoppage time Kyle Williams added his third a second hat trick for him 4-5 but it was too late for Jets.

A brave effort you should not score four at home and lose, the manager more than pointed out the problems and it’s fair to say ears were burned and home truths planted on some higher football hopefuls about their performances for the team effort and a warning that the future is not guaranteed for most when Tuesday’s squad is named.

No discussions on the Carlsberg man of the match it was unanimously agreed to be Tom Inch since the assistant referee was not available for nomination.

It’s easy to always think the recent was the worse, was it playable, no not as a football spectacle but the same for both sides, was it safe yes hypothermia aside for the less active or spectators but AVD worked hard and played the conditions better in a very well refereed match which was a positive after recent experiences.

 

Narrow Defeat As Jets Denied By Inches

Spartan South Midlands Premier
20th November 2021

Saturday 20 November firstly, and very importantly, we remembered the anniversary of Tom Lake KIA, and we thank Dunstable Town and their youth teams for joining us in perfect respects and for the fantastic tribute in the matchday programme.

Jets fell to a single goal defeat at another re-emerging team on the first bitterly cold day of the season. Jets had Bradley Shaw, a young teenage debutant, in goal due to both their keepers not being available and what an impact he made as he pulled off a superb top corner save to deny Town the early lead, a save that days later was still being mentioned on Town’s social media.

The match really was as tight as any I’ve seen this season with defensively both sides well on top, so chances at a minimum. Jets had two openings but on both occasions failed to make contact, whereas Town’s best chance was a scramble in the box that forced Bradley to make a triple save, jostling on the ground with the forward but somehow star jumping to turn the shot away past the post when the ball was laid back for his incoming teammate to slot.

The second period started much the same but the Jets were then on the wrong end of terrible luck and probably the only way the young keeper was to be bested today, a terrible deflection has the shot went right, the keeper committed, then it bounced off a Jets central defender into the opposite side of the net, and it was to turn out to be the winner.

Jets from that point pushed forward and could and should have got something from the match. Kevin Christou committed all his bench to forward guns and Jets pushed and pushed, twice stunning shots clattered off the underside of the bar and somehow stayed out with the keeper beaten.

Then a powerful header from Ben Barnet went over when the goal was beckoning, three powerful crosses from Giordmaina were not latched onto and a miss of the match from Ricardo from less than a yard when somehow he found the side netting from a great chance following a multi chance scramble.

Jets one missing link is that old fashioned centre forward who tucks everything away with toe punts, flicks or anything he just nets.

Controversially Jets were denied a clear blatant penalty in the dying moments with the push in the back that flattens the player and is given in every part of the field except the penalty box and leads to the yellow cards flurry to compensate for the mistake and a retaliation 61 on the scorecard, so no winners all around on that sort of action.

Jets man of the match was a two-man option, the massively impressive Bradley Shaw in goal or the midfield dynamo on the day of Vass Mandeville who worked and worked with his midfield partners to win the defensive battle. In the end we decided to go with a joint man of the match award for the two lads today to mark such a positive debut from Bradley and such an imposing midfield performance from Vass.

In honest reflection both sides looked born again teams, still building but becoming decent teams, it was a hell of a battle, we feel more than a little hard done by coming home empty, which is a credit to how well Kevin and Matt have got the lads playing and working as a unit.

 

Jets and Coldstream Guards in Remembrance

Remembrance 2021
13th November 2021

 

 

Jets Dig In to Earn Their Revenge

Oxhey Jets 1 New Salamis 0

Spartan League Challenge Trophy
9th November 2021

Jets avenged the whopping 10-0 defeat suffered at New Salamis in late September, following the unexpected disbandment of most of the Jets set-up, with this hard-fought and narrow cup win at the Boundary. It was an 11th-minute goal by Kyal Williams that was enough to put the 4th place side out of the SSML challenge cup at the Boundary Stadium.

Jets are having to work hard at things under new boss Kevin Christou as the fixtures secretary lined up every team in the top six (at the time of playing them) in a row and then, to add to it in the great chip shop fryer, they came out with another big fish sending New Salamis to the Boundary stadium in the cup. Jets have been flying again, winning the last three on the bounce, the best run of the season so far and losing just once in the last eight.

The goal was simplicity at its best, and on this occasion, a mere tap in for the hot form striker as the engineering work was produced by the vision of Tom Inch whose inch-perfect ball to Theo Costa split Salamis open, Costa drew the keeper to the line and unselfishly slotted back for Williams to tap home (11 mins).

Jets lost Costa injured before the break, slightly of his own doing hurting himself in a challenge, but Christou plays a good rotation happy squad, and there was strength on the bench to cover.

In the first half Jets had the upper hand, but that was to change big time in the second. It is fair to say that it was almost an encampment in the second as a very different New Salamis came out and went at Jets full throttle. This is where Christou and his coaching team have installed something very new to Jets, the ability to dig in and defend for your life. It’s nervous, it’s scary and it’s very impressive as this young squad, superbly marshalled by the impressive Harry Beaumont’s cool polite skipper encouragement, literally defends as a family unit for each other.

Jets had their moments on the break. A breathtaking save by the visitor’s keeper from Mathews kept them in the game, but it was the keeper at the other end, Jets Lewis Todd, who was turning on the incredible style to hold the visitors at bay.

There was a strange incident as Jets saw red again. Luckily the Lino was on hand to save the innocent player getting the second yellow pointing out he was actually nowhere near the incident, and finally Vass received his first yellow and correct order was restored at 11 v11.

It was a battle, a rearguard action, but a win for the reborn Jets team and we await the news from a chip shop near Pocklington to find out who in the regional draw is next up.

Man of the match was decided from three on the night. Skipper Harry Beaumont is an inspirational leader, encouragement in abundance and firmness to match. Ferrell Charles had Hotshot Derek Asamoah in his pocket, ensuring he didn’t score past Jets like he did Liverpool.

But the nod went to Lewis Todd for another stunning display and a clean sheet which is what every keeper wants.

Now we have the magical Coldstream Guards, the Queens Guard Windsor to excitedly look forward to meeting on Saturday. As the guard’s drummer beats the call to arms, Christou’s lads will be ready to dig in and fight for sure, and early conflict is apparent as Kevin Christou is a former Grenadier Guardsman, so on Saturday I will mischievously drop that into the Coldstream lads. 😉

 

Determined Jets Defy High Flying Green

Leverstock Green 1 Oxhey Jets 2 

Spartan South Midlands Premier
6th November 2021

The game was only a couple of minutes old when the Leverstock goalkeeper, as last man when Sean Giordamina broke through, committed a badly mistimed tackle that stopped the game for several minutes and led to Sean being taken to hospital by John Elliott. As a result we have no match report of our own, so we have used the Leverstock Green report here.

Fair play to Leverstock Green on their report as they recognised that their goalkeeper should have seen red, and that Jets put in a fine performance to deny them and end their unbeaten run.

MATCH REPORT

Leverstock Green’s winning run came to an end against against an improving Oxhey Jets side on Saturday. Oxhey keeper Lewis Todd was the hero for his side, pulling off several impressive saves, including a second half penalty.

The game’s main talking point came very early on. In the third minute of the game Leverstock keeper Alfie Bonfield came racing out of his penalty area to meet oncoming Jets striker Sean Geordmaina. Bonfield slid into Geordmaina with a challenge that was high and reckless after the ball had already gone. Everyone in the ground expected a red card to be shown, including the Leverstock management team, who were considering their options, but after consulting with his linesman, the referee only produced a yellow card for Bonfield. Meanwhile Geordmaina required lengthy treatment and was taken to hospital with facial injuries.

The Green side were very lucky to still have eleven men, and they should have gone in front in the 11th minute when a pass from Paplamin Jawara put Lewis Collins in behind the defence, but Collins put his shot across goal and wide. However three minutes later a similar lofted pass from Dan Weeks allowed Rawn Seale to beat the last defender, and Seale successfully slotted the ball past Todd to put Leverstock into the lead.

Leverstock continued to push forward, although they could not create any more chances, and on 21 minutes Oxhey levelled the scores when Kyal Williams had the space inside the box to turn and fire a shot past Bonfield into the corner of the net.

Two minutes before half time the turnaround was complete when Williams lofted a ball from over 40 yards that was probably intended as a cross, but Bonfield was helpless as the ball dipped over his outstretched arm into the top corner of the net.

Leverstock made a brighter start to the second half, and had a golden opportunity to pull back level in the 51st minute when Rio Beach was brought down inside the box. The referee awarded the penalty, but Jawara’s spot kick brought out a great save from Todd.

Todd continued to frustrate the Green side, pulling off another save to keep out a long-range effort from Jawara on 63 minutes. The rest of the Jets defence were also doing their jobs well, throwing themselves at the ball to block shots and crosses, while Leverstock had a number of other efforts which missed the target.

On 76 minutes Oxhey were reduced to ten men temporarily when Daryl Bryan-Samuels was sin-binned for dissent aimed at the linesman, but Leverstock could not make the extra man tell during the ten-minute period. In the 83rd minute Todd saved again to keep out a header from Dan Pett, and on 87 minutes Jawara shot over the bar from a good chance.

As Leverstock continued to push forward for the equaliser they left themselves vulnerable to the counter-attack, and in the 90th minute Oxhey should have sealed the game when Ricardo Adewuyi was clean through. Bonfield saved his shot, but the rebound fell to Theo Costa, who had an open goal but shot over the bar. Oxhey could have been made to pay for that in stoppage time when Pett was through on goal, but Todd pulled off another incredible save to keep out his shot, and Oxhey held on for the win.

So many good performances today from Jets, and a tremendous desire to win and, with that comeback performance, a real determination to win for Sean. Kyal Williams scored two goals, the team played superbly together but there could only be one winner today and that was Lewis Todd who put on a brilliant display in goal.

What a month for Jets in October. With a new manager and coaching staff, a number of new players joining alongside a loyal group of Jets players who stayed with us, and a fixture list against a group of the top sides in the division, it was a tough schedule, but in fact it was a resurgence.

Although Jets had a bad day at Harpenden, our other October results were excellent. Creditable 2-2 home draws against promotion favourites Risborough Rangers and Leighton Town, a home win against another promotion contender, MK Irish, and excellent 2-1 away wins at Holmer Green and high flying Hadley.

That run of results gave us a number of candidates for the October player of the month but the one who stood out was Kyal Williams with five vital goals, a consistently high level of performance and a great attitude around the club. Well done Kyal!