Oxford City went out of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup in cruel fashion at Thame United this evening.

Leading through a Phil Croker opener, City were pegged back immediately when Ethan Lack levelled but battled for everything until they were finally put out in a penalty shoot out.

An extremely young City side with skipper Croker the oldest player at 18 should be very proud of their efforts against a much more experienced Thame side

Keeper Tom Russell made a super save after 15 minutes when Josh Stranks hammered a low shot goalwards after a Greg Hackett free kick had been repelled by the thin green wall, then made two more blocks as the home side dominated the first half hour.

Thame centre-half Jefferson Louis was older than all of the City side, and I do mean collectively, but was helpless after 29 minutes when the impressive Croker got above the defence to steer the ball home from a Freddy Joyce free kick to make it 1-0.

However the lead was short-lived as the home side went straight up the other end from the restart and Lack lashed past Russell to level at 1-1.

In an increasingly open game Croker had an effort chalked off for offside but the home side went close through Hackett in a thoroughly entertaining game that continued in the same vein after the break with City’s Brayden Daniel, on loan at Thame, hitting the bar against his parent club and the hard-working Kauan leading the line expertly for the Hoops.

Both sides went for the win with Thame replacing the ineffective Jack Tutton with talismanic forward Dan West but the decisive spot kick looked to have come slightly early when Daniel dribbled into the box after 86 minutes and was felled, only for Russell to save Deacon’s weak penalty and force the game into a shoot-out

West made it 1-0, Kian Duggan saw his effort saved. Lewis Thorn made it 2-0, Joyce 2-1. Curtis Brown scored for 3-1, Croker calmly made it 3-2. Deacon thumped down the middle for 4-2 and Josh McConnell hit the post to send City out of the cup in cruel fashion.

Good luck to Thame in the final but this was a great experience from the City youngsters who should be very proud of their efforts.

CITY

Russell, Webb (Moir), Joyce, Beckett, Duggan, Kauan, McConnell, Bessasa-Grant, Dos Santos Bacon, Croker

Subs

Starkey, Stathi, Jabari, Sheppard

Report by Chris Williams, pictures Simon Godfrey