It was the biggest game of the season so far; away at league leaders Oxenhope and a local derby to boot. Sweeping all before them in the league with 4 wins from 4, Oxenhope were going to be the toughest test yet for an upcoming and confident young Oakworth side. There was an air of nervous anticipation on the side lines as the two unbeaten teams prepared to lock horns and the crowd knew surely something had to give.
Oakworth were in the ascendancy and on the quarter of an hour mark Capozio played a beautiful slide rule ball with his wand of a left foot, splitting the Oxenhope defence, and pacey front man Wilkinson was onto it in a flash and toe ended the ball round the oncoming keeper to be left with an open goal which he did his best to miss with a wild slice into the roof of the net. 1-0 Oakworth!
After the first goal Oakworth completely took control of the match. The defence looked solid with the ever reliable and powerful Hillman and Beveridge swotting the Oxenhope forwards away like flies and Cuthbert and Freeman's pace and energy around them giving Oakworth a solid platform from which to build. In offence the cultured Smith alongside the creative duo of Capozio and Devlin were proving just too hot to handle for the beleaguered looking Oxenhope midfield. On 20 minutes the effervescent Wilkinson cut in from the left and tested the Oxenhope keeper who could only parry to the lively Snook who hit a sweet instinctive Bannan-esque first time shot high into the top right of the net to double Oakworths lead. The crowd erupted... "its like watching Brazil" someone was heard to say.
Soon after came the third; the diminutive Warren-Firth hit an innocuous looking cross-come shot from wide right of the Oxenhope goal only for the keeper to have an abhorration as he let the ball slip under his legs and trickle despairingly over the goal line. Warren-Firth wasn't complaining as he wheeled away in delight!
And that was half time, 3-0 to the Mighty Wasps! No one could have predicted such domination only 30 minutes previous!
The second half began and soon Wrather and Harding were in the thick of the action, Wrather outlining his versatility by playing higher up than normal and Harding making his usual crunching tackles at right back with an excellent display.
However, out of nowhere, the young ref made a terrible error of judgement. Smith rose like a salmon in his own box and chested the ball down imperiously, the thud of the ball hitting his chest could be heard over the valley at Carmellos chippy in Oakworth, but the ref heard and saw something different and inexplicably pointed to the spot. Assistant manager Copozios Italian blood was set to boiling point on the sidelines as he gesticulated at the ref like Benito Mussolini on amphetamines. However he need not have worried as 'Safe Hands' Haza maintained his incredible penalty record flying full length to his right to parry away the well struck penalty. The oncoming striker was that blown away by the keepers heroics he skied the simple rebound high and wide as justice was done!
The next 15 minutes saw the free flowing Oakworth again on top without managing to add to their tally. However with 10 minutes to go Wilkinson picked the ball up just inside the Oxenhope half and saw their keeper off his line and audaciously launched a David Beckham style effort high over the back wheeling keeper and into the goal for a goal of the season contender and to put Oakworth out of sight at 4-0.
The final whistle came and Oakworth had systematically taken apart the league leaders dominating the match from 1 to 11. The analytical ice cool management team of Devlin and Cuthbert allied with the Latino fire and brimstone of Capozio had proven far too tactically astute for the brutish Oxenhope manager who put simply 'didn't like it up him!' The Wasps now move up the table with 2 wins and 2 draws from 4 games and have sent out a real statement of intent to the entire league!