Staying Down vs Stevenage (L2)

The weekend win against Port Vale had raised hopes of a late season charge towards the playoffs, so I set off for the Kassam after work with hope in my heart (to coin a phrase). It was slightly tempered by the memory of the recent trip to the Lamex Stadium which had been a terrible match (a 0-0 stalemate), but boosted by the fact that this was the first of three consecutive home games.

Early enough to get into the East Stand car park, I sat eating my sarnie pondering on what the team should or might be. Stevenage are a big, physical team - well drilled in the black arts of niggling fouls and timewasting. We could either take them on at their own game, or we could play to our own strengths. I hoped we'd take the latter option, as we aren't (whatever some other managers might like to say) a physical team. When the team was announced on the radio, Hackney and Potter had been dropped to the bench to be replaced by MacLean and Craddock. To me, this spelled immediate trouble. MacLean, Craddock and Midson are all really central strikers. At least that's where they play best. A midfield of Clist, Payne and McLaren looked narrow as well. Does 4-3-3 really work with the players we have? I guess the answer, looking back at the season so far, is 'sometimes'. Personally I'd have preferred to keep Hackney or Potter in the team at the expense of one of the central strikers.

Ah well. Let's see. Into the stadium - the pitch looked much better (and much wider!) than some of those we've seen recently on our away travels. The Stevenage section was a little fuller than last time - about 200 or so. Must be the appeal of the Football League! The Stevenage team had players all over the shop, many playing out of position due to their injury problems, with various members of the coaching staff on the bench. Or in the case of Maamria, on the touchline. In his playing kit. Poor. The ref soon told him to go and put a different top on, so that he didn't confuse matters on the pitch. He went and put a light grey jumper on over his white shirt, not helping much. The ref should have insisted that he wore something else, but didn't. A minor incident, but typical of the chippy Stevenage attitude.

We kicked off, and for the first ten minutes or so we looked the more adventurous team, without actually looking threatening. How many times this season have I typed that! Stevenage had started out very defensively, looking to close the Oxford players down quickly. Our players had obviously been expecting that and tried to stand firm, MacLaren's mistimed tackle getting him booked. The longer the half went on, the stonger Stevenage got - they were justifiably confident in their ability to snuff out any threats on their goal. Half an hour gone, and we went one down. A Stevenage attack down the right wing, lead to a deep cross. An unmarked Henry (not a vacuum cleaner) headed the ball across the face of goal. From my vantage point in the East stand it looked as if it had gone straight in - but the tannoy announced it as a Harry Worley own goal. Whatever.

The cross had been made too easily, the man was unmarked. Poor defending. Again.

As a crowd, we aren't too phased by going one down any more. It's happened before this season, and we've come back to win. But around me in the stand, there was some amazement at the poor quality of our play. We didn't look like scoring, and we hadn't looked like keeping a clean sheet. The midfield was being surrendered and the attack might have been Midson on his own for all the effect that Craddock and the lacklustre MacLean were having. Tactically we had gradually slid into the 'hoof it at Midson' routine. Even when he won it (which wasn't very often against the large Stevenage players) there was no fellow striker there to pick it up, no attacking midfielder running through to pick it up. We were one down, and looking like we wouldn't score if we played for a week.

If I have a criticism of CW it is that he isn't quick enough to make changes when they are needed. Changes in formation, changes in personnel, changes in tactics. There really should have been some sort of alteration. Half time loomed. We still hadn't had a decent shot, Stevenage looked the more likely to score. No changes. We just kept on doing the same things. A bit of passing it about - mostly backwards and sideways - until the player in posession either lost the ball or was so lacking in options that it was just booted aimlessly forward. We have to be better than that. We ARE better than that - we've seen it. But the ball kept going in the air, sooner or later. It kept bouncing off Midson, or going stright to a white shirt, or going into touch.

The one amusing spot in all this was the traditional Stevenage time-out, which happened after about 35 minutes. A player surprisingly (!) went down off the ball as if he were shot. Out came the drinks. The Stevenage players went for their tactical talk. The drinks bottles had been waiting on the sidelines for them, the crowd had been singing 'Drinks in a minute, you're getting drinks in a minute'. The ref knew what was happening, and was clearly unhappy - but couldn't do anything about it. Or could he? Once the 'drinks break' was over, he kept the 'injured' Stevenage player waiting on the sidelines for as long as he possibly could. Much to the wrath of the odious Westley and his flunkeys, and the amusement of the crowd. Well done, ref. Maybe a yellow card for 'simulation' or 'ungentlemanly conduct' might persuade them to stop doing it? Anyway, it came back to haunt them. The ref added four minutes injury time to the half, and in the last of those minutes Oxford undeservedly drew level. A bit of unconvincing head tennis near the Stevenage goal lead to Josh Payne jumping for a ball and being clattered into by a white shirted defender. A bit soft, but a penalty.

Craddock stepped up and scored down the middle(ish). As soon as the restart restarted,it stopped. Half time.

1-1. We hadn't had a shot in anger apart from the penalty, and that had been given away by Stevenage rather than earned by us. We had tried to play Stevenage at their own game and failed. Despite that, we hadn't changed what we were doing. A half time bollocking and a couple of substitutions might sort it out. Cross bar challenge - people who didn't know when their birthdays were.

The teams came out. No changes for us. Had the goal just before the half time break papered over the cracks in the dressing room? Oh oops. A couple of minutes gone and we were behind again. The central defence went AWOL, and ex triallist Reid put Stevenage 2-1 up. A nice finish, but how much time and space had he been given?!

We were now behind, and still didn't look like scoring. The Oxford bench settled down for a snooze. The players on the pitch gave each other hospital passes and practiced their hoofing skills. The crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing. Wright had a half chance from a corner but couldn't make decent contact.

Then what a surprise, as if it was pre-decided on came Hackney and Potter on the hour mark, replacing Craddock and Payne. Great, some width. We'd get the ball on the floor, send it wide and get some crosses in for Midson and MacLean. No we wouldn't. Potter couldn't get the ball out wide and resorted to having to come inside to get a sniff of it. When he did he went sideways most of the time. His team mates just stood and looked at him. Hackney stayed gamely on the wing, and was rewarded with absolutely nothing. The personnel had changed, the pattern of play hadn't. We still played it to players with their backs to goal, with no support. We still lumped it up the pitch to Midson. Stevenage looked like they might score, we didn't. Beano came on for Midson, it should have been MacLean (who has been very poor for several matches) and didn't make any difference at all. Potter had a weak shot vaguely towards goal. My granny could have saved it, as Geoff Boycott might say. Stevenage then saw the match out as easily as we had on Saturday.

The team left the pitch to some half-hearted boos, but mostly to a stoney silence. We'd got exactly what we deserved. Nothing. Stevenage, for all their niggly rule-stretching, had been the better team. More lively, stronger in defence, playing to their attributes and not worrying too much about their opponents.

Into the car, and back home. My night was complete when the road between Northampton and home was closed for roadworks meaning a 20-minute detour. What a rubbish night that was!

As I drove through the nether regions of Northamptonshire, my thoughts were:

That's it. No playoffs for us this year. Mathematically maybe. But the way that team played tonight - forget it.
The same weaknesses we have shown all season came together again. Let's depress ourselves and list them:
Poor movement off the ball all over the pitch.
Too many passes that don't actually make a difference.
Not enough shots on goal. We didn't actually bother the goalie once all night.
Not flexible enough with tactics, formation or subs.
Players not quick enough on the ball, in thought or deed.
Inability to play a wide game.
Inability to defend convincingly.
There's probably more, but I'm too down to go on.

Crewe on Saturday. I'll go more in hope than expectation. I hope that CW impresses on the players that they are now playing for their places in next season's squad. There are quite a few who will be off to pastures new. On the basis of last night's performance, it will be most of them.