That Woodcote struggled to overcome 9 men for the whole of the second half and ten men for much of the first half will have been irrelevant in the pubs of Oxfordshire last evening. The record books will say, correctly, that Woodcote won this match 3-2 and with it three priceless points at the home of one of the title favourites.

What the record books won’t show is how United threatened to put Woodcote to the sword as they swept into a 15-minute first half two goal lead which included a marvellous goal on the counter attack as United swept from defence to attack. At this point the visitors were in danger of being overwhelmed until a free kick outside of the box was to prove to be the undoing of United. The first such set piece saw WSR pull one back from the simplest of headers.

Despite what should have been a a minor setback, United were doing enough to suggest a comfortable win, but then they pressed the self-destruct button and following a reckless challenge Skipper Flint received his marching orders.

United conceded yet another free kick similarly placed from the previous effort and an almost identical cross was met with an almost identical equalising goal and suddenly it was 2-2. Further disaster struck United when Andy Nicol was sent off for reasons yet unknown, shortly before half time.

Down to 9 men there could only be one winner and so it proved. However, this does hide what was a valiant effort from the 9 men who could so easily have won this game as lost it. A further free kick in the 80th minute replicated the previous two in the first half and suddenly a tiring United were 3-2 down so soon after a James Namyslak effort crashed off the cross bar. One last opportunity went agonisingly wide as Qwam Thomas seeking his second goal despairingly saw his effort squeeze the wrong side of the post.

United deserved more, of that there can be no doubt, but simply put they would almost certainly have won this match with 11 men on the field, therefore perhaps they deserved what they ended up with.

Despite fielding 10 and then 9 men respectively for almost 75% of the match Woodcote failed to get a serious effort on target through solid, rock like, defending and in Rundle, Braim, Jarra, Britnell, Mckie and Hardie there is absolutely no doubting the quality of this defence which makes it all the more surprising as to how United succumbed to what were effectively three sucker punch headers. I'm sure the training ground inquest will be interesting!

Clearly there were negatives in this performance, 2 sending’s off made the task next to impossible and this was further exacerbated by poor defending from three basic set piece crosses into the box, from defenders who have the quality and wherewithal to deal with such basics.

However, there were also positives and if ever a test of character was asked for, it was yesterday, and did the 9 men stand up to the plate? indeed, they did to a man and I applaud each and every one of them for what was turned from a perceived courageous backs to the wall rear-guard action into attacking menace as they threatened to shock the visitors and at the very least deserved the point that was cruelly taken away in the 80th minute.

Defeat usually brings with it despair but I felt the positives outweighed the negatives, provided lessons are learned. United can move forward with the confidence that there is no team at this level they can’t beat, provided they try it with 11 men!

United’s reserves came up against Division Two leaders and still unbeaten FC Woodley yesterday and came away defeated 2-0. The learning curve continues with this young team but there is already belief creeping in as they have to date competed in every game so far and are growing into a senior level of football quite rapidly.

Around the Premier Division the only other game played due to cup ties was Highmoor United losing 3-1 to Westwood United.

The Second Division saw Harchester Hawks crush Berks County Reserves 5-0 while South Reading ran out 5-1 winners against Mortimer reserves as White Eagles were held 1-1 by AFC Corinthians. The rest of the teams were all involved in cup ties.

Next Saturday the reserves entertain East Berks League Premier Division outfit Delaford in the Berks & Bucks FA Intermediate cup at Derehams Lane. Delaford currently sit third in the table with a 100% record so will prove a tough nut to crack for United’s ‘young guns’.

The First team travel to the Nike Stadium, Bracknell for a Premier Division encounter with Berks County.

Both games kick off 2pm.