Oxenhope 3 Kippax 5

AFTER beating Kippax away the previous week, Oxenhope suffered the reverse at their home fixture in an eight-goal thriller.

In a frenetic first half the visitors opened the scoring in their first attack, a move down the left, a cross into the box which the home side failed to clear and the Kippax striker put the ball into the roof of the net. On five minutes Oxenhope were level, Lee Reilly combining in a one-two with Dan Moriarty and the former completed the move with an assured finish.

The game flowed from end to end with both teams playing attacking football.

Reilly and Moriarty linked up well on numerous occasions with the latter trying a cheeky back heel that was cleared off the line by a Kippax defender.

The visitors’ front players testing the Oxenhope defence but found the central pairing of Joe Jalil and Dan Scott both in good form.

With minutes left in the first half Kippax got their noses in front, a long ball was controlled and finished confidently.

In the final minute of the half Oxenhope gained a deserved equaliser, a free-kick on the edge of the box was powered home by Moriarty arrowed in inside the near post affording the visitors’ keeper no chance.

Early in the second half Oxenhope took the lead, a Moriarty cross into a crowded area, Reilly was the first to react and drove the ball into the net.

Only for Kippax to draw level minutes later and then on the hour, they regained the lead when keeper Ricky Driver and defenders hesitated and Kippax’s striker punished their indecision.

Oxenhope upped their efforts in search of the equaliser but on 80 minutes the visitors doubled their advantage with a stunning free-kick from outside the box.

Tom Marshall went close late on, dribbling his way past three defenders but the Kippax keeper pulled off a smart save to deny him.