WOODLEY United racked up their eighth Hellenic League Division One East win of the season with a 3-1 success at Holyport, climbing to second in the table.

The visitors started well, playing some of their best football of the season in the opening five minutes.

Josh Drew put in Charlie Oakley, who ran at speed at the home defence, but his cut back evaded several blue shirts in the Holyport box.

Three minutes in saw the home keeper make the first of several saves over the course of the afternoon when Oakley forced him into a smart stop at his near post.

Sixty seconds later United went ahead when Oakley finished from 10 yards after Matt Jones saw his shot saved.

The build up to the goal involving left-back Sukhi Kang and winger Carl Prestidge was first rate. The goal woke up the hosts who in turn had a good spell.

A nice run by Paul Rake ended with him missing to the left from 25 yards. Alert Marques then had his header saved in the right corner from a deep cross out on the left before a Rake header that lacked power failed to test Alex Reed who saved easily.

Midway through the half a great ball by Prestidge picked out Abdul Kamara; from a tight angle on the left the midfielder could not find Oakley as Woodley regained their grip on the game.

United had to make an early change three minutes before the break when Jones limped off with an injury.

Liam Wilson came on and made an immediate impact with a fine finish into the right corner after latching onto a nice Kamara pass.

The second half started with a host of Woodley chances.

Drew shot well wide after the hosts could only half clear a Danny Horscroft corner, before a Prestidge shot from the right was saved. Despite the difficult conditions with a strong wind, more pressure followed.

Oakley had a shot blocked by a defender, while Wilson saw his low drive well saved in the right corner.

With 20 minutes to go, Holyport were lucky not to go down to 10 men when Oakley was bundled over by the last defender. The resultant Horscroft free-kick was parried away.

Despite the vast majority of the half being played at the Holyport end, the hosts nearly got back into the game when a left-wing corner was flicked on at the near post.

Fortunately for Woodley, Kamara was positioned on the line to clear.

Down the other end, the home side then cleared off their line as Oakley shot goalwards after a Teddy Thomas shot was parried into his path. Oakley then hit the bar from just inside the box as United looked to kill off the game.

With four minutes left the hosts halved Woodley’s lead when Barry Rake fired into the left corner from 18 yards. The score did not stay like that for long, though, as two minutes later Oakley restored the two-goal cushion, tapping in after a Thomas shot was saved.

  • WOODLEY United made it two wins in four days after cruising to a 5-0 home win against rock bottom Wantage Town Reserves, with Oakley scoring a remarkable ‘perfect’ four-minute hat-trick.

The in-form hitman put the hosts in front with a right-footed effort on the quarter-of-an-hour mark, and then netted with a header shortly after.

It was 3-0 on 19 minutes when Oakley scored with his left foot, although Wantage showed some resolve to ensure they did not concede again before the interval.

However, Woodley made it 4-0 early in the second half when Josh Drew hit the target, and he completed the rout on 74 minutes with his second.