Good afternoon and welcome to Martin Wilkinson, the staff, players, officials & supporters of Kidlington FC for this Uhlsport Hellenic League fixture. We hope you enjoy our hospitality and have a safe journey back home after the game.

With only one game left of their season, our visitors today lie in a safe 4th place in the league and cannot now be overtaken by the chasing pack. They have a record of played 37, won 21, drawn 9 and lost 7. Their current form shows them having drawn six and lost one of their last seven outings after winning at Thatcham Town.

We had a chance of overtaking them to get that fourth spot, but our draw at Brimscombe & Thrupp last Thursday means we can now only finish in 5th spot and so the result for our visitors is academic and really only a matter of pride.

We beat them convincingly at their ground by 3-0 back in December and no doubt they will be looking to finish on a high note, so I am expecting a good contest today.

Talking of the Brimscombe game, it was entertaining from a spectators view point, but we looked tired playing our third game in six days and they took the lead early in the second half after we had squandered a number of opportunities to get in front in the first period.

We rallied well and got the equaliser and probably should have nicked it in the end as we finished the stronger of the two sides. Fair play to them though, for giving it a go and you can see why they have won six out of their last eight league outings and climbed up to mid-table safety.

We still have Ardley to play on Tuesday evening to conclude our league programme for the season and we then have the Wilts Senior Cup Final on Wednesday 29 April at Chippenham Town with a 7.30pm kick off, against Bradford Town of the Western League.

By the time we complete our season, we will have played 59 games all told with SEVENTEEN during March and April. With the chance of a Wembley appearance, we have had to compromise on the team selection on a few occasions and have suffered a number of heavy defeats as a result. We also had to let the Reserves play in the Challenge Cup at Newbury and although they played very well and lost narrowly, this is a cup competition we might have expected to do well in.

We had a great run in the FA Vase but there is no doubt that this has affected our final league placing and certainly ensured that we were unlikely to progress too far in the Challenge Cup. Does success breed success? I’m not too sure! Luckily we will finish the season on a high note with the Wilts Senior Cup Final to play.

I suppose when it is all over, Kev, Paul and I will look back on this season as a very successful and eventful one. We have travelled the length and breadth of the country with our FA Cup and FA Vase exploits and we have competed equally with the best sides at this level. The boys have shown that they can play great football and it has been a pleasure to be with them on this journey.

Hopefully we can finish on a high by taking the Wilts Senior Cup and the squad can take a well earned rest over the summer break!

Thanks for your continued support and see you in the bar later!