Goal-Fest Thriller: Woodstock Town Reserves Fight Back for Dramatic 5-5 Homecoming Draw

Not the way we wanted our homecoming to end — with shared points.

After just five minutes from kick-off, Woodstock gave away a penalty due to some poor decision-making and mistimed challenges, giving Long Wittenham the lead at 1–0.

A few minutes later, Woodstock went on the attack and were awarded a free kick just to the left edge of the box, where Felype Mandu slotted the ball into the far bottom corner to equalise.

The game began to settle for both teams, but with the match being end-to-end, Eduardo put us back in front after 16 minutes with a lovely curled finish around the Long Wittenham keeper — 2–1 Woodstock.

However, Woodstock took the lead and didn’t learn from their mistakes, which cost us, as Long Wittenham kept battling and managed to grab another goal to equalise at 2–2.

As the first half was coming to a close, Woodstock switched off and allowed Long Wittenham to score two more goals before the break, making it 4–2 at half-time.

Woodstock went into the interval with their heads down, knowing they had made it extremely difficult for themselves to get anything from the second half.

Second Half

The second half kicked off with Woodstock chasing the game. A few changes were made, and the team came out moving the ball around in the way we know best.

An early attack saw the ball played into Eduardo in the box; his shot took a deflection and ended up in the back of the net, narrowing the gap to 4–3 Long Wittenham.

Woodstock slowly began to take some control by moving the ball well, though the match remained end-to-end. The second half became very scrappy from both sides, and once again Woodstock didn’t learn from the first half — giving away silly fouls and gifting Long Wittenham another chance to score, which they took to make it 5–3.

Knowing time was running out, Woodstock pushed hard and produced some lovely football on the attack, breaking through the Long Wittenham defence for Mauro to slot home another goal and reduce the deficit to 5–4.

In added time, Woodstock won a corner. The ball was crossed in and met by Oakley, who rose highest to head home and equalise — 5–5.

Long Wittenham launched one final attack, but Woodstock threw themselves in front of the ball to keep it out of the net. The final whistle blew with the score ending 5–5 — both teams coming away with a point.

Woodstock Town Reserves would like to wish Long Wittenham all the best for the rest of the season.