HONOURS EVEN BETWEEN CARDEA AND OUNDLE

Both teams came in to the game on the back of wins in last weekends fixtures. Cardea beating FC Peterborough whilst Oundle overcame Crowland in the cup.

The game was a very open affair right from the start and Cardea top scorer Thomas Klinkovics almost opened the scoring within 5 minutes after turning his marker on the edge of the area and seeing his shot turned around the post by the Oundle keeper. From the resulting corner, Cardea centre back and August Player of the Month, Michael Williams saw his looping header drop just over the bar with the keeper left stranded.

Cardea’s early pressure paid off in the 11th minute when a ball in to the channel was ran on to by Dandrilli who cut in on to his right foot and delivered an excellent ball in to the box. Klinkovics was on hand to turn the ball in at the near post. An excellent finish. 1-0.

Cardea’s Lead only lasted 7 minutes after an Oundle midfielder won the ball and then was given too much space. He found a pass to their wide man who finished excellently. Stand-in goal keeper Anton Fountain managed to get his fingertips to the shot but was unable to prevent it from hitting the back of the net. 1-1

Unfortunately for Dandrilli, and for the second time in the space of 3 weeks, the striker aggravated an on going injury problem and was forced to come off immediately after Oundle equalised. Marius Balosu his replacement.

The game saw a number of good “half chances” fall for both teams with Anton Fountain doing well to collect a couple of excellent deliveries in to the box from Oundle set pieces.

Returning from his surfing exploits to grace us all with his beauty, Antonio Esposito saw an excellent opportunity go begging as he ran through 1-1 after a through ball from Klinkovics. The winger saw his shot go past the wrong side of the post for a goal kick.

HT: Cardea FC 1-1 Oundle Town

The second half was very similar to the first with lots of space for the midfielders from both teams. Only some excellent emergency defending kept the scores level.

A moment of madness from Conor Murphy (previously a thorn in the side of Cardea, both on Saturdays and Sundays) saw referee Darryl Henson show the Oundle midfielder a straight red card for foul and abusive language. The game now became more like a basketball game than a game of football. Amazingly though, the score stayed at 1-1.

With 20 minutes to go John Danskin made his return to Cardea, replacing the excellent (but now shattered) Nathan Ginty. It wasn’t long before the battling midfielder got stuck in. With Sam Cope sent for a loaf of bread by a young Oundle debutant and too tired to get back in position, Danskin came across to cover, he not only won the ball, but almost lifted the Oundle youngster off his feet in the process.

A few moments later, a dangerously delivered free kick from Oundle drifted agonisingly wide of the post after missing everyone. The free kick was won as Oundle looked to play on the break towards the end.

Esposito and Klinkovics both had very good chances to get Cardea’s second of the game but on both occasions the finishing touch was lacking.

FT: Cardea FC 1-1 Oundle Town

After the game, manager Matthew Robinson said “I thought we played very well today at times and on another day we come away with the win, especially when Oundle went down to 10 men. I’ll take the point as a positive and move on to next weeks fixture hoping for a similar performance”

Motm was awarded to Michael Williams for his superb display at the back. The defender coped well with defending in 1 v 1 situations and was certainly a contributing factor in Cardea’s all round display. Thomas Klinkovics was a close second for his well taken goal and general hold up play as well as his excellent work rate! Well done!

Next up for Cardea is a home game against Crowland Town.