Oxford University Association Football Club

Old boys weekend provides opportunity for new boys to shine

A highly successful 2 days of football was played out over the weekend as OUAFC welcomed back many of its former players for a festival of football in conjunction with the Old Boys Club (OOBC). On Saturday, a strong "old Centaurs" team beat the current university second string 2-1, in the Duncan Mulholland memorial match - an event that it is hoped will become an annual fixture. The match was played in an excellent spirit with many of Duncan's former team-mates taking the opportunity to catch up with one another, often for the first time since leaving university. A superb lobbed strike from former Centaurs captain Rob Ivermee set the old boys on their way after only 5 minutes, and when Watson Pringle doubled the old boys advantage on the hour mark with another excellent finish, the game as a contest was effectively over. The current centaurs continued to press and enjoyed the lion's share of possession without ever really threatening Paul McMahon's goal. However, when Dave Winterton poked home from 6 yards with 3 minutes left to make it 2-1 a nervy last couple of minutes was ensured. Mrs Mulholland made the trip over from Bristol to present Rob Ivermee with the Duncan Mulholland memorial trophy and OUAFC would like to thank her and everyone else involved in the day for making it such a successful occasion.

On Sunday, the Blues took on the old Blues at Iffley road and emerged with a highly creditable 3-1 victory. With the stresses last week's fixtures still taking a toll on many of the blues squad, captain Rainford took the opportunity to give a few fringe players an outing against a strong Old Boys side. The blues looked to have a hunger for the contest and surged into a 3-0 lead by the hour mark courtesy of a 20 yard pile-driver from James Kelly, a towering header from Nico De Walden and a poacher's finish from 6 yards from Tom Howell. However, the old boys showed glimpses of their undoubted talents and pushed forward seeking to get back into the game. A precise Ossie Akkaya finish from 20 yards on 70 minutes left the blues hanging on for the last 20 minutes.

If you want to be kept up to date with old boys events, including their upcoming games against Lloyds and the Corinthian Casuals and events around the 124th Varsity match at the end of March, then please get in touch via the OUAFC Sabbatical Officer, Nik Baker, at nicholas.baker@sport.ox.ac.uk or the old Boys website: http://www.oobc.org