TEENAGE striker Adam Oxberry capped a
fairytale debut for Faversham
Town Reserves with the winner against Chatham after being made
CAPTAIN
by boss Brett Harrison.
Youth team forward Oxberry, who has
just turned 16, replaced skipper
Luke Jackson on 70 minutes and immediately turned to Harrison to ask
who he should give the armband to.
No-nonsense Harrison told him to wear
it himself and was rewarded
when the youngster made it 2-0 with a powerful right-foot shot into
the
corner 10 minutes from time.
Greg Barrett gave Town the lead just
after half-time and Brad King
fired a late penalty for the Chats after a clumsy challenge by Jim
Duckworth, but it was Oxberry's second-half cameo that had everyone
talking in a crowd of more than 100 at Salters Lane.
Oxberry was recommended to Harrison
by youth team boss Ray Turner and
the duo are hoping the youngster is the first of many to come
through
the ranks.
Harrison said: "Adam's had a
special little 20 minutes out there and
I'm pleased he got his goal. The guys who revived the football club
wanted to give local kids a chance to play at Salters Lane and with
Adam playing for the Reserves it's as if the conveyor belt has
started
rolling before the season has begun.
"Ray's been doing a great job
with the youth team all summer and
Adam's one of several players I've invited up to senior training.
He's
come in and done well but it's important we don't get too carried
away."
Oxberry was unsure about what to do
next after replacing Jackson and
Harrison revealed: "Adam asked me who should he give the
armband to but
I just said 'put it on yourself son!'
"It must have given him a boost
because he did well. Hopefully,
there's alot more to come from the lad but we'll not go overboard.
He
still has two years left as an Under-18 player."
Oxberry's introduction gave
supporters the novel spectacle of a
20-year gap between Town's youngest and oldest players with new
first-team coach Paul Copley marshalling the defence after the
break.
He joked: "My arrival was the
turning point of the game! I put it
down to my portfolio of long and short passing allied to my ability
to
breeze past people with an effortless gallop."
But Harrison had another view on the
former Welling United star's
performance, revealing: "Sadly, after rolling back the years to
make my
team, he was found wanting on a number of occasions, especially when
he
left a ball he thought was going out. He had neither the pace nor
the
understanding to recover. Schoolboy error!
"In all seriousness, Paul's been
great for the club since coming in
only a couple of weeks ago. He's a real character and someone we can
all learn from.
"And one thing is for certain,
he's a legend in his own mind!
