City had an excellent day at the BKA cup first round recently. Playing in one of the four team pools labelled the 'Group of Death', we were up against hosts Bearstead, Croydon (recently relegated from the National league), and Wildcats (containing a number of current and ex England international players).

City started in control against hosts Bearstead, taking a 1 - 0 lead, but despite plenty of chances we were unable to pull away, and went into half time only 1 - 0 up. The second half was much more frantic, with goals traded pretty evenly, but City never fell behind. With about 10 seconds left to go it was four all, but Cath spotted an opening whilst feeding, and turned to shoot, taking City into a 5 - 4 lead with about 3 seconds to go. Bearsted threw off, and the whistle whilst went went immediately, with Bearsted looking stunned.

The second match was against the Wildcats, with Oxford having the advantage of a break, while Wildcats had just been beaten by Croydon. City again started well, quickly going into a 2 - 0 lead from Pauls on form long shot. Goals came easily, and City went into half time with a 5 - 3 lead. An excellent first half, and an unexpected lead for City against such a strong team. However, Wildcats came out in the second half with a completely fired up tempo, and overwhelmed City with a flurry of goals, with City not able to respond. The game ended 9 - 6 to Wildcats, but what an upset it would have been if City had been able to hold it together.

The final match was against Croydon. They had dominated both their previous games, and were obviously favourites.  Fortunately City were able to hold them for long spells, but their quality defending meant there were limited opportunities for City to score. City were a couple of goals down at half time, and the second half saw much the same pattern as the first half, with excellent City defending causing obvious frustration to Croydon players. Final score 6 - 3 to Croydon.

So, as expected, City didn't progress to the 2nd round, but overall it was an excellent day, and all the players seemed very happy with the teams performance against quality teams.