The Royal Oak attempted to bounce back to winning ways this week after 2 disappointing losses in a row.

This weeks visitors to the Lions Den were the already relegated Elstow Abbey 06 and The Oak would head into this game as favourites to get the result.

Assistant Manager Sean Boland was in charge for this game as Manager Chris Birdsall missed the game through self inflicted illness. Andy Palombella, Paul Stevens, Steve Armstrong & Michael Cox were all missing, allowing the returning Luke Battle to come straight into the starting XI up front and Martin O Donovan to make his first start of 2008.

This game was a scrappy affair from start to finish, with neither side dominating the play. The first talking point of the match came after 10 minutes when Battle ran onto a through ball and as he stretched he pulled his hamstring. The Oaks only substitute, Wayne Aylott had to come on and he went straight upfront.

Elstows first chance came when Anthony Hubbard played a one-two on the edge of the Oaks box. Hubbard managed to lose his marker, but the pass was fortunately overhit and White comfortably claimed. Not long after, Martin White mis-controlled a Sean Boland backpass and had to hit a 50-50 tackle with the on rushing striker. Luckily White came out with the ball and the danger was cleared.

Liam Boland and Martin O Donovan were trying to create any sort of chance, but options looked limited. For most of the first half the ball had to be passed backwards by The Oaks midfield to Boland, Minney and Murphy, who all looked comfortable in possession but again struggled for options.

The Oak won a corner, and Cooney drilled it low and hard to the feet of Liam Boland. Boland flicked it behind him into the danger area but, after a goalmouth scramble, Abbey managed to clear the danger.

No real chances came and half time arrived. The Oak kept the system the same and took to the field determined to break the deadlock first.

Unfortunately, it was Abbey who broke the deadlock. A long boot forward from Abbeys keeper was missed by Cooney and his marker spread the ball out wide. The Abbey left midfielder swung the ball in low and allowed the striker to tap in from close range. As last week, the striker was in an offside position but the decision wasn’t given and the score was 1-0.

The difference this week was that The Oak still had most of the second half to draw level. . . And it didn’t take long. Turner ran onto a Boland Jnr through ball and the Abbey centre back took a wild swing at the ball inside the box. Turner knocked the ball past his man and when it looked like Turner was going to get both of his legs broken, he dived up in the air and screamed like a girl. No contact was made, but The Oaks first penalty of the season was given.

Boland Jnr stepped up and coolly Stroke the ball into the keepers bottom left corner to net his 4th goal of the season. This seemed to pick The Oak up and the effort slightly rose, putting Abbey under pressure. Boland Jnr won a tackle on the half way line and looked up to see that the Abbey Goalkeeper was off his line. Boland Jnr knocked the ball in front of him and unleashed an unstoppable strike that sailed over the keepers head and just crept under the crossbar. Boland has been trying for about the past 6 weeks to pull this off. . . But it finally worked and put the Oak 2 â€' 1 up.

The Oak didn’t really create anymore chances after the second goal and most of the play was deep in The Oaks half. O Donovan and Boland both sat a bit deeper to ease some of the pressure off the hard working defence. Claudio Jordan and Lloyd Turner also chipped in which left Cooney to be the outlet and try to create any sort of chance to get a 3rd and kill the game off. The pace of the Abbey strikers was starting to cause problems as the Oak began to tire, but the Oaks defence held up well and looked like they would keep to just the one goal conceded.

Abbey had other plans and pushed everyone forward in an effort to draw level. A Abbey corner was headed down to the feet of Murphy on the by-line. Murphy looked up and saw no Oak player in front of him, so he had no choice but to just clear the ball. The Right back cut Murphys clearance out and knocked the ball into the edge of the box. An Abbey striker worked a shot, which deflected through to the other Abbey striker. He mis-hit his effort but White had already commited himself and the ball trickled over the goal line to make it 2-2.

No more clear cut chances came for either side and the points were shared.

Next week the Oak visit mid-table Caldecote. The following Wednesday sees them visit Marston which will also be a tough game, but with safety guaranteed and with nothing to play for the Oak can relax and have a bit of fun.

What we all want to know is. . . Will the gaffer re-instate himself straight back into the starting XI after the great performance of Martin O Donovan??? Will Andy Palombella have to dust off his Shell suit and be forced to watch from the sidelines??? Will DCI Murphy actually manage to play more than 2 games in a row??? Will Lloyd stop licking windows???

Guess we will find out all the answers on Saturday!
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(3-5-2)

Martin White

Danny Murphy
Sean Boland
Dave Minney

Martin O Donovan
Claudio Jordan
Lloyd Turner
Liam Boland
Michael Cooney

Lorenzo Jordan
Luke Battle (Wayne Aylott)

Sub Not Used:
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Dream Team Star Man: Liam Boland . . . Created a lot of chances from the centre in an attempt to increase the scoreline. Worked box-to-box and capped his performance with a nice finish from the half way line.*

*Award was given by Seany B. . . I didn’t just make myself Dream Team Star Man!