Oxford Hawks: 2 Epsom: 1 (Midmer)
A spirited Epsom performance at league leaders Oxford Hawks ultimately came up short, but offered some encouragement for the eight remaining games of the season.
Oxford had the territorial advantage in the first half, moving the ball with pace and accuracy, but Epsom defended tightly and threatened a few times on the counter attack, with Mike Atkinson constantly threatening from right midfield. Oxford took a deserved lead after 25 minutes when a deflected ball into the circle found their skipper who swept home. Epsom started to come under pressure as the first half finished but held out and went into the break 1-0 down but still in the game.
The second half saw a much improved performance from Epsom, who stayed organised against Oxford’s passing game and started to move the ball around much faster themselves. Following a spell of Epsom pressure midway through the half, Jonny Hugo calmly played in James Midmer to smash home to level the scores at 1-1. Oxford were stung into action and soon won a short corner from which set piece specialist David Cresswell fired home a screamer of a dragflick to put them 2-1 up. Epsom saved their best until last, and put together some sweeping moves in the closing stages to pile the pressure on Oxford- but couldn’t find a second equaliser.