A bright afternoon and a rather heavy pitch welcomed Kidlington to Court Place Farm for Nomads’ first game of 2012.
In addition to the imminent departure of manager Gordon Geary having an unsettling influence, and the absence of several regulars leading to an inexperienced side taking the field, an early goal left the visitors with a massive hill to climb.
Nomads’ second attack produced a corner, curled in at pace by James Dobson. The ball was headed clear of the penalty area but only as far as Adam Morris who gave Dobson another chance to deliver a cross that found Kamran Abbasi whose light touch took the ball beyond Luke Sanders and over the line.
Jack Johnson almost put Kidlington back on terms within a minute as his first-time left-foot volley from a clearance whistled inches past Alan Foster’s upright.
Pablo Haysham was fouled twenty-five yards out and Dobson’s free kick brought a good save from Sanders as the ball evaded the defensive wall, before Nomads added a second goal in the sixth minute. Some patient approach play around the top of the box eventually delivered the ball to Dobson and his perfectly weighted chip/lob floated over Sanders and below the bar.
The youthful Kidlington side seemed shaken by these early reverses and Nomads pressed forward at pace winning three corners in quick succession, but the visitors regained their equilibrium somewhat and it wasn’t until the thirteenth minute that the rampant home side added to their score. Jemaine Ferreira’s pass allowed Josias Carbon to burst forward, exchange passes with Adam Morris and then drive the return pass beyond Sanders’ dive.
On the quarter hour Kevin Nielsen-Pike found space just inside the Nomads’ box only to shoot straight at Alan Foster, but four minutes later Kidlington got themselves on the scoreboard as Jordan Parker curled a free kick around the end of the wall and into the top corner.
Carbon had a powerful goalbound drive cannon off Richard Brooks and into Sanders’ hands and Haysham curled a free kick just past the post before a steady build-up on the half-hour gave Adam Morris time and space to pick his spot from fifteen yards for Nomads’ fourth.
Though Nathan Geary had a promising run stopped at the expense of a corner by Joel Meade, most of the traffic was towards Sanders’ goal, and Nomads’ fifth score came from their eighth corner of the game just ahead of the break as Denel Thomas’s powerful downward header bounced over Sanders and into the net via the crossbar.

Half-Time: Oxford City Nomads 5-1 Kidlington

Tony Booker replaced Kamran Abbasi at the break and two minutes into the half Conor McDonagh held the ball up well in midfield before releasing Jemaine Ferreira to accelerate down the right before cutting in and setting up McDonagh to crash the ball high into the net.
Haysham’s crisp shot was parried to Ferreira who shot home only to find himself flagged offside and minutes later Zac McEachran, on for Adam Morris, showed a clean pair of heels to the defenders and brought an athletic save from Sanders by his left-hand post.
McDonagh added to his rapidly growing total for the season on 58 minutes as he exchanged passes with Kynan Isaac before bustling past a defender and the goalkeeper to slam the ball into an empty net.
With fairly relentless pressure McEachran and Isaac both went close before Kidlington’s woes were added to as substitute Ali Broome pulled up and had to be helped off the field with no substitutes remaining on the bench. At which point the visitors proved they could still be dangerous as a poor pass in midfield was latched onto by #12 who left Foster a spectator as he curled a shot into the top corner.
Haysham’s dipping shot from twenty-five yards skimmed the bar before the visitors’ New Year nightmare took a further turn for the worse when Nathan Geary failed to get up from a challenge near the centre spot and then hobbled off after treatment to leave his side with just nine men and twenty minutes left on the clock.
With an ever more stretched defence facing them, Nomads made numerous chances with Isaac’s pace and guile being a particular threat, but had to wait until the 77th minute when Isaac dispossessed a defender and put McDonagh in the clear to complete his fourth hat-trick of this prolific season.
Sanders made a double save to deny Ferreira and did well to touch McEachran’s drive around the post; Isaac couldn’t believe his luck as Liam Rice somehow managed to scoop a goalbound shot off the line, and Booker’s header from a corner rebounded off the crossbar.
With five minutes remaining Kidlington gained some reward for their persistence in the face overwhelming odds as an attack on the right produced a skidding shot that Foster could only push away and Jack Quainton drove home the rebound.
There was still time for the mercurial Isaac to skip past two defenders and see his shot strike the bottom of the post before George Seacole netted the twelfth goal of the match with a lob from such a tight angle that even Mr Davis was unsure as to how the ball had gone in and paused for several seconds before pointing to the centre.

Oxford City Nomads: Foster, Carbon, Isaac, Meade, Abbasi (Booker 45), Thomas, Ferreira, Morris (McEachran 51), McDonagh, Haysham, Dobson (Seacole 51).