The oak were without 3 key players With no Dave Minney, Sanjay Kalyan and long term absentee Dan Murphy, But the Oak did welcome back Steve Armstrong from a long term injury.

And it was Armstrong who opened the scoring when he latched onto a hopeful long ball midway through the 1st half. Despite the goalkeepers best efforts, Armstrong placed the ball into the bottom corner to put the Oak 1-0 up.

Stevington pulled one back, before Stevington goalkeeper deliberately handled the ball 2 yards outside the box. The goalkeeper only received a yellow card for what was really a red card offence, but justice was done from the free kick. Both Liam Boland and Michael Cooney stepped up, but the skipper took control of the situation and smashed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net. The goalkeeper had no chance! With Bolands now prolific Free Kick rate of 1 goal every 4 years, he is bound to take every free kick against AFC Kempston next weekend!

Stevington again pegged it back to 2-2 just before half time. Straight from the Kick off, The Oak put Stevingtons back line under pressure. After just five minutes of the second half, Lorenzo Jordan looped the ball over his head high up into the air and the goalkeeper could only parry the ball up into the path of the on-rushing Michael Cooney. Cooney leaped like a salmon to head the ball powerfully into the net from 1 yard out.

With 40 minutes still to play, The Oak made a tactical decision to stop attacking and just soak up pressure. Martin White in the Oak goal was rarely tested, but he pulled of two world class saves in the second half to keep the lead.

Chris Birdsall made 2 late substitutions to try and ease the pressure on the defence. With 6 minutes to go, the ball was thumped clear from The Oaks penalty box and Lorenzo Jordan gave chase. Jordan out sprinted the Stevington Defence, only to be cruelly chopped down at chest height from the on-rushing keeper. With the goalkeeper already booked, the outcome was inevitable. The red card was shown and Stevingtons hopes of snatching a draw followed there disgraced goalkeeper back to the changing rooms. Jordan was forced to watch the final 6 minutes from the sideline with what seemed to be injured ribs as Paul Stevens replaced him.

The referee blew his final whistle and the home crowd of 8 people celebrated what was a hard fought victory. This result lifts the Oak up one place above AFC Kempston Town Reserves, who we play in our next league match on 23rd February.
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Team: (4-4-2) M White, A Palombella, M O Donovan, Aidan, C Birdsall (C Jordan), L Boland, S Boland, M Cox, M Cooney, S Armstrong (L Turner), L Jordan (P Stevens).
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Man Of The Match: Martin (The Cat) White... Purely for his 2 saves in the second half.

Winner of Figs Vest: Martin (Titus Bramble) O Donovan... A number of nearvy moments, but never looks worried! Most laid back person Ive ever met! Pipped Andy (Scouse) Palombella to win the vest this week!