Fixture: Oxford City 1 - 2 Chesterfield
League: National League
Date: Tuesday 15th August 2023
Another tough game for Oxford City who welcomed one of the biggest clubs in the division to the RAW Charging stadium, table-toppers Chesterfield.
This was my birthday, so I had high (or wishful) hopes for a late winner and some good celebration photos to add to the celebrations! It was the first floodlit game of the season and therefore I was looking forward to seeing how my new Nikon D5 would operate under those conditions. I was also quite excited, or at least felt like I’d stepped up levels, given I’d be photographing a game in which players like Will Grigg would feature!
Photography Learning/Musings…
I’d been thinking about sitting in a position where I could capture the defenders and goalie from a closer position for this game. I wanted to build more stock images of those players and also thought that City might spend more of the game defending, as they had against Rochdale the game before.
For the first half, I decided to take up my normal position behind the goal and toward the corner flag and thought I’d wait and see how the game panned out. The first 45 were fairly even and it looked like it was going to be all square at the break until the visitors opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time!
This meant that at half-time I had a decision to make, did I take up a position closer to halfway and focus on those defenders/goalkeeper (i.e. anticipating the goal would see Chesterfield push on and dominate the game) or should I go behind the goal?
As it was I went behind the goal, but to a side where I knew I would probably miss celebrations. I thought I’d spend 10-15 minutes behind the goal and then maybe move to halfway for the final part of the game.
What actually happened second half was Oxford City came out firing and really put the game to the visitors. This led to an equaliser on 61 minutes which saw a very nice celebration go the other side of the goal to me and toward the other photographer - much to my dismay!
I had an inclination that because it was my birthday I’d get a good celebration shot, and there I was sat the wrong side watching the celebration go away from me :-(
However, and as you’ll see in the images, the position I was in did mean I captured the scoring of the goal and once I’d got over the disappointment of missing the celebration I was really happy with the way I’d captured the scoring of the goal. You can’t win them all can you?
For the remainder of the game I decided to stay behind the goal in case City went on to score a winner but unfortunately Chesterfield grabbed a late winner to steal the points, an outcome which was really harsh on the Hoops (Oxford City’s nickname).
Below are a few of my favourite images of the game, including the Oxford City goal.
I sat right in front of the Chesterfield fans first half and captured this shot of that evening golden hour light hitting their fans.
The Oxford City goal, Josh Parker lines up this cross from Lewis Coyle as it drops over the head of a Chesterfield defender
Josh Parker volleys home the Oxford City equaliser
Josh Parker wheels away to celebrate his goal
A forlorn Chesterfield ‘keeper as the ball nestles in the net
Chesterfield manager Paul Cook had a cup of tea in his hand at all times throughout the 90 mins
You can see my full album of match photos from this game here.