OJM Black Country V Paget Rangers (Division One)

​OJM were looking to continue their excellent run of form with a result against Paget Rangers at the Trevor Brown Memorial Ground yesterday evening. The hosts were going for their fourth consecutive win and were one of the form teams going into it with 12 points from their last five matches.

With the match kicking off at 6pm, it was huge for OJM as they could go to within two points of the play offs with a win.

Paget Rangers were looking to cause an upset yesterday against an in-form OJM to boost their safety hopes and steer further clear of AFC Bridgnorth and Smethwick Rangers in the bottom two. The Bears were sitting in 18th going into yesterday’s match and a point better off than AFC Bridgnorth who lost to Coventry Copsewood earlier in the day.

The main aim for the visitors is to finish in 18th to have a chance of a reprieve at the end of the season. It’s a close contest between the bottom three for that 18th spot and it could potentially go to the final day of the season.  

The atmosphere around Boldmere St Michaels was reflective and welcoming yesterday and it’s an excellent set up for step six football. The main positive is the view it offers of the pitch, and supporters are close to the action from the Harry Peakman stand. It’s well worth a visit for casual groundhoppers across the West Midlands and is just a 14-minute walk from Wylde Green train station. 

Starting Line Ups

The starting line up for OJM featured Tom Clapp starting in goal and Zaqib Hussain leading the line up front. The formation appeared to be a 4-3-3 with Zaqib Hussain being supported by Kosheen Sappelton and Kofi Williams on the wings.

There were four changes from the team that started against Paget Rangers a couple of weeks ago with Blake Kindred coming into the team and playing in holding midfield.

Paget Rangers’ starting line-up included Reece Johnston starting in goal and Dion Calder leading the line up front. The formation looked like a 4-2-3-1 with Dion Calder being supported by Amari Clarke and Dejon Miles on the wings.

There were nine changes from the team that started against Nuneaton Griff last weekend with Dominic Ellington coming back into the team and playing in central defence alongside Jordan Ambris. 

First Half

OJM got off to a brilliant start and took the lead early on to settle into the match. A well worked passing move down the left was played into the box and Kosheen Sappelton was on hand to put the ball into the net.  It was a bit of quality in the final third from OJM and showed their quality on the ball in the opening stages of the match.  

The main pattern of play in the first half was OJM playing a possession-based style and looking to work the ball into the box. Paget were set up to invite OJM on to them so they could get them on the counterattack and cause problems at the back. To the visitor’s credit there was not many chances in the opening half an hour, and they did well to contain the attacking threat of OJM.

​It was not quite clicking up front for Paget and they struggled to build any momentum in front of goal throughout the first half. OJM had a lot of the ball and were looking to break down the Paget backline for large parts of it. This probably prevented the visitors from building some rhythm in the final third.

Paget were dealing with the OJM pressure well in the first half with Dominic Ellington playing well and making some big clearances to keep the visitors in the match. Harry Parker also did a good job off the ball and was reading the game well alongside breaking up the play from holding midfield.    

The OJM pressure eventually paid off for the hosts and resulted in a second goal near the end of the first half. An excellent ball into the box found Zaqib Hussain at the back post who finished well into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0. It was a quality finish from a player who was prolific in division one last season with 32 goals.

The hosts managed to find a third goal at the end of the first half to effectively settle the match before half time. It was similar to the first goal and came down the left-hand side where Louis Conway worked the ball to the byline before squaring to Kofi Williams who finished well to make it 3-0.

Second Half

The second half continued the pattern of the first half with OJM having most of the ball and looking to break down the Bears defence. The hosts had a greater degree of control over the match in the second half which was the main difference from the first half.

A well weighted pass from Blake Kindred found substitute Taylor Homer whose shot was well saved by Reece Johnston in the Paget goal. Fellow OJM substitute Eshan Greer made a brilliant run off the shoulder to go through one on one with the goalkeeper before finishing well to make it 4-0 in the middle of the second half.

The visitors had a few half chances in the second half to reduce the deficit with the best chance falling to Ryan Butler who had a header saved from a free kick into the box.

As the match became more stretched, OJM took advantage of this and managed to find the space to cause the visitors problems at the back. Taylor Homer was excellent down the right in the second half and accelerated with the ball before rounding the keeper and producing a composed finish to make it 5-0. He’s got that turn of pace and offers OJM something different going forward.

Despite a lot of quality coming from OJM yesterday, Paget showed flashes of quality when they had the ball with substitute Alex Mane impressing off the bench and linking up the play well to try and build attacks for the visitors. 

OJM managed to get a sixth goal near the end of the match with substitute Kyle Moseley accelerating into the box and beating his man before finishing into the right corner.

Not long after the referee blew for the full-time whistle with it finishing 6-0 to OJM.

Full Time

It was a team performance from OJM yesterday which was the most pleasing thing about the play off chasers with every player stepping up and having a good game. The result should give them a lot of confidence for the matches ahead and set up an exciting end to the season for the supporters.

Alongside the attacking quality in the final third, the defence and the midfield really stood out in this match and showed why OJM are competing near the top of the table. Callum Nimmo and Stefan Cameron were excellent at the back and managed to deal with the Paget pressure well, especially in the first half.

Blake Kindred had an underrated game from holding midfield and offered OJM that composure on the ball to help them build attacks. He played some excellent defence splitting passes to set up attacks in the second half. Liam Spink was also reliably good in midfield and linked up the play effectively between the defence and the midfield.

Paget showed plenty of effort and endeavour yesterday against a good side. There were some positives in terms of players standing out and having good matches. None the less, this is probably one to forget for the Bears with the matches coming up being key for their safety hopes.       

FT score: OJM Black Country 6-0 Paget Rangers

Man of the match: Blake Kindred (OJM Black Country)

Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League