Hello all -
The second home match in a week. And one that looked as if it was going to be much more difficult than Plymouth. Port Vale always give us a decent match - we won both fixtures 2-1 last season, and a win today would be important. For all that managers like to say that there are no easy matches, I'll stick my neck out and say that our last five league matches (Hereford, Bristol Rovers, Macclesfield, Gillingham and Plymouth) were easier than our next four (Port Vale, Southend, Crawley and Cheltenham) will be. Especially given that Southend and Crawley are away. So, important to get three points before we go on our travels.
I have to get out of the house early to give Mrs Z a lift to the garage, so I decided to make tracks to the stadium early. I prefer to park behind the east stand since it's a lot quicker to get out. There had been rumours of trouble - some of which had been stirred up by a silly 15 year old Swindon supporter, but some of which stemmed from incidents between the two sets of supporters last year. I have to say the atmosphere last year at Port Vale after the match was a bit nasty. Anyway, parking in the east stand car park would probably avoid any of that nonsense and I duly arrived and parked. It looked like there was going to be a decent crowd, with that car park near enough full before 1.45.
The Oxford team was announced as having one enforced change, with Andy Whing coming in for the suspended Batt at right back. It's nice that the team is now so settled and I think that is one of the reasons for our decent form lately. The man to watch in the Vale team was Marc Richards, their striker.
Once in the ground, it was difficult to see what was happening behind the fence, but the mounted police were galloping about, presumably herding the more 'lively' members of the Vale support towards the ground.
The teams ran out, with Port Vale wearing a truly horrible grey strip. Why on earth they weren't wearing their black and white, I don't know.
We kicked off, playing towards the fence end and as has been the case in the last few matches, we made much of the early running. Our first notable chance fell to Peter Leven after five minutes, but he put the ball over the Vale bar. We had almost constant possession though, with Robbie Hall looking particularly lively. He jinked in from the left, and put the ball just wide of the far post, not helped by the touch the ball got from a Vale player. Leven took the corner and swung the ball in. Now generally, our corners are a bit static, with the Us players standing there waiting for the ball to arrive. Duberry had different ideas, making a run from deep. By the time he arrived to head the ball, he was motoring and nobody was going to get in his way, never mind stop him. He headed down and in! One up after ten minutes, and well on top.
Doobs was patently absolutely delighted. He ran down the pitch doing an aeroplane, or a charging Ox, or something. The crowd? "DOOOOOOOOOOOBS'. If Doobs had smiled any wider, the top of his head would have fallen off. Great stuff. The Vale fans (who had been on Duberry's back because of his Stoke connections) went even quieter than they had been before.
Andy Whing had made a terrific tackle early on in the match, but the Vale attacker he was up against beat him for pace and got a cross in. The ball was cut out by Jake Wright though and only a corner resulted. In case I forget to mention it later, that was pretty much the last time anyone got past Whing so easily. He's obviously not really an attacking fullback like Batt (although he did get forward more than I thought he would) but he was solid enough in defence. Occasionally he was left with two attackers to deal with, but that was more due to lack of cover from the midfield or from the wide forward on that side.
In fact, there was space all over the pitch. Hall and Leven put shots narrowly wide and Potter scored but from an offside position. Poor Alfie - he must think it's never going to happen! Port Vale were coming more into the match though, making good use of the space and both Duberry and Wright had been called into action at the East Stand end. Clarke had also made a decent save, but just before half time, it looked as if it was going to be 1-1. The ball bounced in the Oxford area to a Vale player who picked his spot. But Jake Wright threw himself in front of the shot to block it. Back to a grey shirted attacker. Another shot, another block by Wright who fell on the ball with his had suspiciously close to it. A few half hearted appeals, but the ball was cleared.
One of the reasons why the appeals were half-hearted was probably the way the ref had run the game. He was not going to give a free kick for either side if he could posssibly avoid it. Now, in general I applaud that type of reffing, I'd rather the game was allowed to flow. But this chap took that idea to ridiculous extremes. Dodgy tackles went unpunished, wrestling players to the ground was just fine. Taking a free kick from the wrong place with a moving ball with the wall about five yards away? No problem. Still, at least he had been consistent. He blew for half time, bringing to an end a good half of football. We'd bossed the first 25 minutes, the rest had been more even.
Half time came with the whole population of Oxfordshire aged under 11 running round the pitch or penalty shooting on it. The penalty competition was taken at the side of the pitch, to avoid cutting up the already divot ridden penalty area. That needs some attention, groundsman. You've got 10 days.
The second half started with no personnel changes. The yellows went back on the attack, Beano crossing the ball to Alfie who miskicked completely, missing the ball. It found it's way to Leven who put it wide. Hall had another decent effort saved by the Vale keeper, who had apparently been very mouthy in the tunnel at half time. It was easy to see why Port Vale have a decent away record though - they were very dangerous on the break. And they made that count after about twenty minutes of the second half. A lovely through ball found a Vale player on the right of the penalty area who crossed low for Richards to score from a couple of yards out. The Vale crowd erupted as if they'd won the world cup.
They soon shut up though! Peter Leven picked the ball up in midfield and ran about five yards into the Vale half. Then he lobbed the keeper. Which sounds simple. Actually, the thoughts going through my head were...
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to be, Leven?"
"That looks like it's going straight into the keeper's arms."
"That goalie is back pedalling and waving his arms about a lot!"
"Actually it's going a bit higher than I thought, it might even clip the bar!"
"Hold on... hold on... blimey, surely not!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAWAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
An absolutely brilliant piece of skill. Surely worthy of winning any match? If it had been a goal in the Premier League it would be on a constant loop on the telly. It still should be. The celebration from the players and in the stands was amazing. Our players were going quite a lot of waving and fist shaking towards the East stand. Or maybe towards the mouthy goalie? Whatever. 2-1 to us. "Leven, from the halfway line, Leven, from the halfway line!!"
Still 25 minutes to go though. Constable put one wide for us, Richards did the same for them. The space on the pitch was unbelievable. Robbie Hall was replaced by his namesake Asa in an attempt to make the midfield a little more solid.
The ref then made his bid for stardom. Having persisted with his 'never give a free kick' attitude for the whole match, he now gave a penalty to Vale for very very little with ten minutes or so to go. An innocuous challenge from Duberry, Marc Richards did the dying swan, the ref pointed to the spot. Ridiculous. Step up Marc Richards - step up Ryan Clarke. Richards shot accurately, but not accurately enough to beat Clarke, who not only guessed right but pushed the ball behind, out of danger. Justice.
Smalley came on to replace the ever-improving Heslop and to waste a bit of time. Vale had one further chance, but Clarke and Davis combined to thwart them. The ref blew his whistle and that was that. An excellent win.
Into the car and home. Listening to the new CD by Half Man Half Biscuit, 90 Bisodol (Crimond). Recommended if you like lower league football, popular culture and sarcasm. Probably not for you if you actually like the music in the X Factor.
Reading all that back, there is so much I haven't mentioned. Potter's dangerous runs, Davis offering an always effective outlet on the left, Whing's defensive abilities, McLarens calmness, Leven's overall class and vision.
Thoughts from the day:
The best match of the season.
Short free kicks are a bad idea about ninety percent of the time! Especially when it just gets passed back to the bloke who took it in the first place.
Port Vale are a decent team, that could quite easily have been a draw. They'll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.
It's great to see someone enjoying their football as much as Michael Duberry obviously does.
This Oxford team is getting better match by match.
A spectacular goal, a penalty save and lots of good football. Can't wait for the next match...
... which is away at Southend. See you there.
COME ON YOU YELLOWS!
Oxford United, Stereo Photography, Old Amusement Machines, Odd Musical Instruments and more.
Sunday 30 October 2011
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Men Against Boys (vs Plymouth L2)
Hello all -
After a couple of away matches, tonight was the first of two consecutive home matches - which will in turn be followed by a couple of consecutive away (League) matches. Call me old fashioned, but it would be good if the fixtures computer (or bloke with a stubby pencil or whatever) could manage a home - away - home - away pattern.
On paper, tonight's match looked to be the easiest of the season - at home against Plymouth, the team rock bottom of the league. Not only that but Plymouth's financial problems have meant that their players haven't been paid some (or any) of their wages for months, so the team was full of very young players. Probably ones who don't have families or mortgages. It's hard not to sympathise with Plymouth. A team falling down the leagues with financial problems and a good hardcore support. Sound familiar?
Night games are my favourite, and one against a poorly performing team (especially after such a generally good game against Gillingham) was one I was expecting us to get someting out of. A quick dash from work and into the East Stand car park. The weather was on-off raining, but Ok for football, with the rain perhaps adding some zip to the surface.
The Oxford starting XI was announced as unchanged from Gillingham, except that Constable took Smalley's place. Sounds good to me. Smalley was on the bench, along with Payne, Philliskirk, Whing and Asa Hall. I can't say that I recognised any of the Plymouth team apart from Jake Cole, who was in goal for us a while ago. As far as I remember, he came in as cover for an injured Turley and was OK. Since then he's moved on to Barnet and now Plymouth. A sucker for punishment!
Before kickoff there was a touching tribute to a recently deceased young Oxford fan, with flowers being put behind the East Stand goal. Lots of applause (including from the Plymouth fans - thanks) made it a moving few minutes. Let's hope the team could give him a good send off.
We started in our preferred way for the first half, kicking towards the fence end. It looked as if Plymouth had won the toss and chosen.
The match started as many thought it might. For the first ten minutes, we had complete control. Plymouth didn't get the ball and hardly got out of their half. Constable brought a save out of Jake Cole, and then Plymouth got back into it a little and had a shot that Clarke saved. Remember that - it's not going to happen much in this report!
Then Davis drove in from the left and let fly with a shot that was deflected wide of the Pilgrim's goal. From the corner, Jake Cole produced a reflex save from Alfie Potter, but Robbie Hall isn't one to turn a chance down and hit the ball home to put us one up. About a quarter of an hour in. To their credit, Plymouth looked to get back into it fairly quickly and a bit of defensive shenanigans at the back gave them a chance, but Duberry was there to clear it off the line. Oddly enough, that seemed to deflate the Pilgrims more than our goal and truth be told that was their last even semi-effective attack from open play of the evening with only 20 minutes gone. Potter narrowly missed the next chance, then Hall ran past two Plymouth defenders on the left as if they weren't there and fired just wide. Potter and Heslop had two more efforts saved by Cole before halftime (Heslop's was saved with an outstretched leg), but the half finished with us just one goal to the good. Plymouth had looked more and more ragged during the half, with some of the mistimed tackling causing winces in the stands. A couple of them had been booked early, and the ref had shown considerable restraint with one of them, who could quite easily have has a second yellow for a tackle similar to his first offence.
No dancing girls at half time, so I went to point percy at the porcelain (stanley at the stainless steel?). In the loos were a Community police officer, a steward and the smell of fags (although I couldn't see anyone smoking while I was down there). Back on the pitch some kids were kicking the ball at the goal. The mood in the stands was good. In truth, Plymouth hadn't been much of a threat and we would have been more than one up except for Jake Cole.
So the second half. Kicking towards the east stand, those of us sitting/standing there were looking forward to some goalmouth action! There was a bit of a lack of urgency from the men in yellow though. There is 'retaining possession' and there is 'arsing about with it'. CW calls it 'overplaying it', but 'arsing about' more accurate. We needed some more urgency in the play. Not hoofing it, but a bit more snap, more speed, more movement off the ball. What could give us the boot up the bum we needed?
A Plymouth equaliser. A bit of arsing about led to us losing the ball and giving away a free kick inside our own half to the right hand side. The ball was delivered into box, and bounced up between a Plymouth player and Michael Duberry. Doobs decided to try to kick the ball away, but his boot was far far too high and he caught the Plymouth player. The ref blew for a penalty and booked Doobs. Fair enough. It was a dangerous challenge, but not a malicious one. The Plymouth player duly converted the spot kick to level the scores.
Rats. How on earth had we managed to squander that lead? But - as I hinted above - the players in yellow needed a spur, and that was it. The home crowd got behind the team and within ten minutes or so the lead had been restored. The ball was delivered across the box, where Potter was waiting. Unforunately he was slow to react, or forgot where his feet were or something. It went straight past him out to the other side of the box (the Oxford right) where Batt latched onto it and put it back in. Robbie Hall, with a display of wonderful technique, volleyed the thigh-high ball straight past Cole. I hope Potter was taking notes! Lovely.
With 25 minutes to go, that was it. Plymouth now looked dispirited and disorganised. There was no way they were coming back. That was confirmed a couple of minutes later when a simple long ball from the again-excellent Davis found both Potter and Constable onside with the goal at their mercy. Potter unselfishly nodded the ball on for Constable who made no mistake and made it three. Some of the football we were now playing would have graced any pitch in any league. One of the classiest players on the Oxford side, Peter Leven had been quietly pulling the strings all evening. A lovely move ended up with Leven out on the Oxford left, Cole came out to narrow the angle (having been let down by his defence again) and Leven gloriously lobbed him. A lovely touch. That was four.
McLaren, Hall and Duberry were now replaced by Payne, Philliskirk and Whing.
Alfie Potter had been good all evening, but he is finding it impossible to score. With a few minutes left he had a golden opportunity to put that right. He was put through one-on-one against the keeper, but as we all watched and waited and waited and waited for him to put the ball over or past Cole, he tamely ran it straight into the keeper's arms. Alfie!
Having had a bit of a 'finishing from a cross' lesson from Hall, Potter now had a 'finishing from a through ball' lesson from Constable. Leven put another slide rule pass though to Beano, who slipped in under the keeper the make it 5-1. Cole and his defender then squared up to each other, not the sign of a united squad, and there was still remonstration between various men in green as the restart was taken. But time was up.
An excellent win, albeit against a very poor team. A decent crowd had seen a good performance with five goals - maybe some of them will be back for Saturday's match against Port Vale. One peron who won't be is Damien Batt, whose yellow for dissent (I think) will rule him out. Silly boy.
Home to bed. Mrs ZeroTheHero 'Did you win?'. Me 'Yes, five-one'. Mrs Z 'Is that good?'. I give up!
Thoughts from the match:
Well done the Plymouth support. Travelled in numbers and judging by all the arm waving etc made a decent noise. I say that, because as we all know it is virtually impossible to hear any noise from the away support in the east stand and vice versa!
But they are going to be supporting a conference team next year unless the team is improved very markedly, very quickly.
Once we move the ball just 10% quicker, we look 50% better.
Beano proved his worth again. Even before he scored he was effective.
See you all at the Port Vale game - let's hope rumours of trouble from Burslem prove false.
Come On You Yellows!
After a couple of away matches, tonight was the first of two consecutive home matches - which will in turn be followed by a couple of consecutive away (League) matches. Call me old fashioned, but it would be good if the fixtures computer (or bloke with a stubby pencil or whatever) could manage a home - away - home - away pattern.
On paper, tonight's match looked to be the easiest of the season - at home against Plymouth, the team rock bottom of the league. Not only that but Plymouth's financial problems have meant that their players haven't been paid some (or any) of their wages for months, so the team was full of very young players. Probably ones who don't have families or mortgages. It's hard not to sympathise with Plymouth. A team falling down the leagues with financial problems and a good hardcore support. Sound familiar?
Night games are my favourite, and one against a poorly performing team (especially after such a generally good game against Gillingham) was one I was expecting us to get someting out of. A quick dash from work and into the East Stand car park. The weather was on-off raining, but Ok for football, with the rain perhaps adding some zip to the surface.
The Oxford starting XI was announced as unchanged from Gillingham, except that Constable took Smalley's place. Sounds good to me. Smalley was on the bench, along with Payne, Philliskirk, Whing and Asa Hall. I can't say that I recognised any of the Plymouth team apart from Jake Cole, who was in goal for us a while ago. As far as I remember, he came in as cover for an injured Turley and was OK. Since then he's moved on to Barnet and now Plymouth. A sucker for punishment!
Before kickoff there was a touching tribute to a recently deceased young Oxford fan, with flowers being put behind the East Stand goal. Lots of applause (including from the Plymouth fans - thanks) made it a moving few minutes. Let's hope the team could give him a good send off.
We started in our preferred way for the first half, kicking towards the fence end. It looked as if Plymouth had won the toss and chosen.
The match started as many thought it might. For the first ten minutes, we had complete control. Plymouth didn't get the ball and hardly got out of their half. Constable brought a save out of Jake Cole, and then Plymouth got back into it a little and had a shot that Clarke saved. Remember that - it's not going to happen much in this report!
Then Davis drove in from the left and let fly with a shot that was deflected wide of the Pilgrim's goal. From the corner, Jake Cole produced a reflex save from Alfie Potter, but Robbie Hall isn't one to turn a chance down and hit the ball home to put us one up. About a quarter of an hour in. To their credit, Plymouth looked to get back into it fairly quickly and a bit of defensive shenanigans at the back gave them a chance, but Duberry was there to clear it off the line. Oddly enough, that seemed to deflate the Pilgrims more than our goal and truth be told that was their last even semi-effective attack from open play of the evening with only 20 minutes gone. Potter narrowly missed the next chance, then Hall ran past two Plymouth defenders on the left as if they weren't there and fired just wide. Potter and Heslop had two more efforts saved by Cole before halftime (Heslop's was saved with an outstretched leg), but the half finished with us just one goal to the good. Plymouth had looked more and more ragged during the half, with some of the mistimed tackling causing winces in the stands. A couple of them had been booked early, and the ref had shown considerable restraint with one of them, who could quite easily have has a second yellow for a tackle similar to his first offence.
No dancing girls at half time, so I went to point percy at the porcelain (stanley at the stainless steel?). In the loos were a Community police officer, a steward and the smell of fags (although I couldn't see anyone smoking while I was down there). Back on the pitch some kids were kicking the ball at the goal. The mood in the stands was good. In truth, Plymouth hadn't been much of a threat and we would have been more than one up except for Jake Cole.
So the second half. Kicking towards the east stand, those of us sitting/standing there were looking forward to some goalmouth action! There was a bit of a lack of urgency from the men in yellow though. There is 'retaining possession' and there is 'arsing about with it'. CW calls it 'overplaying it', but 'arsing about' more accurate. We needed some more urgency in the play. Not hoofing it, but a bit more snap, more speed, more movement off the ball. What could give us the boot up the bum we needed?
A Plymouth equaliser. A bit of arsing about led to us losing the ball and giving away a free kick inside our own half to the right hand side. The ball was delivered into box, and bounced up between a Plymouth player and Michael Duberry. Doobs decided to try to kick the ball away, but his boot was far far too high and he caught the Plymouth player. The ref blew for a penalty and booked Doobs. Fair enough. It was a dangerous challenge, but not a malicious one. The Plymouth player duly converted the spot kick to level the scores.
Rats. How on earth had we managed to squander that lead? But - as I hinted above - the players in yellow needed a spur, and that was it. The home crowd got behind the team and within ten minutes or so the lead had been restored. The ball was delivered across the box, where Potter was waiting. Unforunately he was slow to react, or forgot where his feet were or something. It went straight past him out to the other side of the box (the Oxford right) where Batt latched onto it and put it back in. Robbie Hall, with a display of wonderful technique, volleyed the thigh-high ball straight past Cole. I hope Potter was taking notes! Lovely.
With 25 minutes to go, that was it. Plymouth now looked dispirited and disorganised. There was no way they were coming back. That was confirmed a couple of minutes later when a simple long ball from the again-excellent Davis found both Potter and Constable onside with the goal at their mercy. Potter unselfishly nodded the ball on for Constable who made no mistake and made it three. Some of the football we were now playing would have graced any pitch in any league. One of the classiest players on the Oxford side, Peter Leven had been quietly pulling the strings all evening. A lovely move ended up with Leven out on the Oxford left, Cole came out to narrow the angle (having been let down by his defence again) and Leven gloriously lobbed him. A lovely touch. That was four.
McLaren, Hall and Duberry were now replaced by Payne, Philliskirk and Whing.
Alfie Potter had been good all evening, but he is finding it impossible to score. With a few minutes left he had a golden opportunity to put that right. He was put through one-on-one against the keeper, but as we all watched and waited and waited and waited for him to put the ball over or past Cole, he tamely ran it straight into the keeper's arms. Alfie!
Having had a bit of a 'finishing from a cross' lesson from Hall, Potter now had a 'finishing from a through ball' lesson from Constable. Leven put another slide rule pass though to Beano, who slipped in under the keeper the make it 5-1. Cole and his defender then squared up to each other, not the sign of a united squad, and there was still remonstration between various men in green as the restart was taken. But time was up.
An excellent win, albeit against a very poor team. A decent crowd had seen a good performance with five goals - maybe some of them will be back for Saturday's match against Port Vale. One peron who won't be is Damien Batt, whose yellow for dissent (I think) will rule him out. Silly boy.
Home to bed. Mrs ZeroTheHero 'Did you win?'. Me 'Yes, five-one'. Mrs Z 'Is that good?'. I give up!
Thoughts from the match:
Well done the Plymouth support. Travelled in numbers and judging by all the arm waving etc made a decent noise. I say that, because as we all know it is virtually impossible to hear any noise from the away support in the east stand and vice versa!
But they are going to be supporting a conference team next year unless the team is improved very markedly, very quickly.
Once we move the ball just 10% quicker, we look 50% better.
Beano proved his worth again. Even before he scored he was effective.
See you all at the Port Vale game - let's hope rumours of trouble from Burslem prove false.
Come On You Yellows!
Saturday 22 October 2011
The Game That Drives You Popping Mad (vs Gilingham, L2)
Hello all,
First, a challenge. Can you remember the source of the title of this post? It is relevant, and you've got the rest of the article to remember. Answer at the end.
So, Gillingham. Not a lovely place, or a lovely trip for me. Down the M1, round the benighted M25. I considered going by train, but the extortionate cost (about £40 plus another six quid to park at the station) put me off. If the government are serious about getting people off the roads, they have to make public transport affordable for normal working people. Obviously most other people think the same, judging by the number of them trundling along the motorways bumper to bumper. But it kept moving (albeit slowly at times) and I was in the Priestfield Stadium by about 2.30. It's the second time I've been there, and the away facilities don't get any better. An open topped stand consisting of 'temporary' seating balanced on a forest of scaffolding poles. So long has it been there that the plastic seats are sun/rain/snow weathered and look (frankly) very tatty indeed. To make matters worse, they only open the top half of this structure, so there are loads of empty seats between the away supporters and the pitch. Not only does this spoil the atmosphere for the visiting supporters, it leaves the fans exposed to the elements. Today's weather was dry with bright sunlight (good) but an unexpectedly cold blustery wind (bad). And for the privilege of sitting in this top notch comfort? Only £20. Thanks.
The match was preceded by some cheerleading type stuff from the Gillingham girls, who all seemed to have washed their shorts on far too hot a wash. It was vaguely in time with the rather distorted music coming out of the antiquated PA. I'm at the age when peering at very young ladies with tight shorts wiggling about feels rather pervy, so I had to peep between my fingers so nobody saw me.
Thankfuly the PA announcer soon came on to inform us that the Oxford team was Clarke, Batt, Duberry, Wright and Davis, with McLaren, Heslop and Leven in midfield and a strike force of Robbie Hall, Smalley and Potter. Hmm. There's only one goalscorer there. Constable and newly returning loanee Danny Philliskirk were on the bench, along with Asa Hall, Kinniborough and Whing.
The first half started with the Us kicking towards the teetering heap of scaffolding with yellows fans balanced on it. The match was fairly even to start with, but the ref was showing signs of the bizarre style he adopted later on. After a couple of Gills corners had come to not much, during another Gills attack, one of their players went down close to half way. It hadn't been a foul, so the ref let play go on as long as the home side looked threatening. Eventually we got the ball off them and started a counter-attack. Peep! went the ref's whistle. Oh right, so it's OK for one team to play on, but not the other. And then, rather than telling the Gills to give us the ball back, he decided a contested drop ball was a good idea. Plonker.
Shortly after, Alfie got free and after a mazy run smacked the ball well wide of the goal. I say mazy, it was mostly sideways - something that was repeated ad nauseam throughout the game. The Gills had a couple of long range shots, but Clarke dealt with them with his customary ease. I am very impressed that he hardly ever spills the ball from long shots. He looks as safe as houses. Robbie Hall was hacked down in the Gills penalty area, but the weak and fussy ref waved play on. We were now in the ascendency all over the pitch, with Gillingham looking very very poor. But as happens so often, we failed to take advantage by actually scoring a goal. Smalley was having another poor game, he doesn't look threatening and up front centrally on his own looks a long way short of what we need. Alfie was running his socks off, not always in the right direction and not always picking the right option at the end of the run, but he was putting a shift in. Hall (R) is lively and bright, but we can't rely on a 17 year old loanee for ALL our goals! The lack of striking power was very frustrating, because all over the rest of the pitch we looked very good indeed.
Then, about five minutes before half time, what turned out to be the decisive incident. Smalley went down with a head injury. Gillingham played on (that's fine, it's not their job to stop the game) - the ref (who job it IS) did bugger all. Thanks again mate. What happened to consistency? Smalley had to go off (holding a cloth to his head to staunch the blood). That's fine, we've got both Constable and Philliskirk on the bench. One of them would come on.
Except they didn't. For some reason CW decided to try and hang on until half time, so the misfiring Smalley could be brought back on after being patched up. I'd have thought it would have been an ideal opportunity to replace him. But no, we soldiered on with 10 men. So when the ball came up to Potter on the right, he had no striker to give it to. So he went backwards to try and find a yellow shirt to help him. He lost it and the ball went down the other end, a decent save from Clarke went eventually to a blue shirted Gill just outside the penalty area who unleashed a thunderbolt that Clarke had no chance of stopping. If we'd had eleven players on the pitch - who knows? Personally I feel it was a poor piece of thinking.
That just about finished the half. Somehow we had looked excellent, without coming particularly close to scoring and had managed to be behind. Quite an odd half of football really. The dancers came on again, some kids kicked a ball about in the goalmouth down the other end, the wind got colder.
So the second half started with Smalley repaired (looking rather like a boiled egg in a white eggcup) and no changes. After five minutes or so, it looked as if the ref had given us a lifeline, handing a second yellow card and therefore a red to a Gills player. So they were down to ten. They'd made it count in the five minutes when we were short and now we had 40 minutes to try and do the same. Heslop had a decent shot saved by the keeper and was looking dangerous. We were well on top. But just like last week at Macclesfield, for some reason Heslop was then taken off when he was looking good, this time to be replaced by Constable. I'm not sure what this taking Heslop off tactic is. He is the one midfielder likely to score from range. So now we had Constable up the middle, Mr Egg on the right and Robbie Hall on the left. Alfie was (I think) playing behind them. The ever-reliable Davis was combining well with Potter, with each of them setting up a chance for the other. Davis's effort was a lot closer than Potter's. But it looked like a goal was likely. Hall, Constable and Potter all had decent chances.
You'll notice that Smalley's name hasn't cropped up amounst those who were peppering the Gills goal. Obviously CW noticed as well (and about bloody time) and took him off, bringing on Danny Philliskirk. Whose first involvement in the game was to get himself booked. The ref obviously enjoyed the feeling he got from waving the card, bacause he now started to wave it at any yellows player who made a tackle. In fact he lost control of the game for the last 25 minutes or so, really - I'd guess the referee's assessor is going to have to buy some more red ink on Monday.
Gillingham were now putting all their players behind the ball, and threatening on the break. In fact they scored one that was ruled out for a (correct) offside. McLaren went off to be replaced by Asa Hall whose first two touches were terrible, but settled down after that. Jake Wright made a couple of horrible defensive mistakes passing back across his own area, luckily neither of which resulted in a goal. If you are under pressure, Jake - just hoof it onto the stands or up the pitch. Rolling it across your own penalty area is a bad idea.
Then another Gillingham player got himself sent off - a straight red for a two footed off the ground lunge on Asa Hall. But there was only a couple of minutes to go. And then the golden chance for us to level it. Constable beat the offside trap, lobbing t he oncoming goalkeeper. But with the whole goal to go for, he put it three yards wide of the right hand post. Noooooo.
And that was about it. The ref waved cards at Oxford players for no good reason, Clarke kept the score down to one with a good save, and that was it. Bugger. We'd done more than enough over the course of the match to earn at least a point, probably three. Poor finishing had cost us. But it was difficult to be too downhearted. We had lost, but the performance had been good. Much better than at Macc, where we had earned a point. Perhaps if we pretend that we had lost at Macclesfield and drawn at Gillingham? Yes, that's better.
Quickly out of the ground, back onto an ever slower M25, a dash up the A1(M) as an alternative to the M1 and home.
Thoughts from the day:
I am sorry, but I don't think Smalley is good enough. Every striker has lean patches where the don't score. But Smalley isn't even involved in the game for 90% of the time. There are a lot of things he can do when not directly involved. Track back, tackle, make runs across the defence to make space for teammates, just make a nuisance of himself. Maybe he needs to play in a team where he gets better delivery? Maybe he's injured? I don't know what it is - but give me a striker who is missing goals rather than one who goes missing any day.
We are still a bit sluggish in midfield. Heslop isn't quick either, but at least he carries a goal threat. Keep him on.
When BOTH sets of supporters are singing 'you don't know what you're doing' at the ref at the same time, you know he's had a total stinker.
A losing performance that was more encouraging than last weekend's draw.
Two home matches next - Plymouth on Tuesday and Port Vale on Saturday. Given that the two matches after that are away to Southend and Crawley, I think the two home matches are pretty much 'must wins' if we want to be able to look at the table without wincing in a month's time.
See you on Tuesday - COME ON YOU YELLOWS.
And the title of this post is the 'catchphrase' for the boardgame Frustration, which sums up my feeling about today!
First, a challenge. Can you remember the source of the title of this post? It is relevant, and you've got the rest of the article to remember. Answer at the end.
So, Gillingham. Not a lovely place, or a lovely trip for me. Down the M1, round the benighted M25. I considered going by train, but the extortionate cost (about £40 plus another six quid to park at the station) put me off. If the government are serious about getting people off the roads, they have to make public transport affordable for normal working people. Obviously most other people think the same, judging by the number of them trundling along the motorways bumper to bumper. But it kept moving (albeit slowly at times) and I was in the Priestfield Stadium by about 2.30. It's the second time I've been there, and the away facilities don't get any better. An open topped stand consisting of 'temporary' seating balanced on a forest of scaffolding poles. So long has it been there that the plastic seats are sun/rain/snow weathered and look (frankly) very tatty indeed. To make matters worse, they only open the top half of this structure, so there are loads of empty seats between the away supporters and the pitch. Not only does this spoil the atmosphere for the visiting supporters, it leaves the fans exposed to the elements. Today's weather was dry with bright sunlight (good) but an unexpectedly cold blustery wind (bad). And for the privilege of sitting in this top notch comfort? Only £20. Thanks.
The match was preceded by some cheerleading type stuff from the Gillingham girls, who all seemed to have washed their shorts on far too hot a wash. It was vaguely in time with the rather distorted music coming out of the antiquated PA. I'm at the age when peering at very young ladies with tight shorts wiggling about feels rather pervy, so I had to peep between my fingers so nobody saw me.
Thankfuly the PA announcer soon came on to inform us that the Oxford team was Clarke, Batt, Duberry, Wright and Davis, with McLaren, Heslop and Leven in midfield and a strike force of Robbie Hall, Smalley and Potter. Hmm. There's only one goalscorer there. Constable and newly returning loanee Danny Philliskirk were on the bench, along with Asa Hall, Kinniborough and Whing.
The first half started with the Us kicking towards the teetering heap of scaffolding with yellows fans balanced on it. The match was fairly even to start with, but the ref was showing signs of the bizarre style he adopted later on. After a couple of Gills corners had come to not much, during another Gills attack, one of their players went down close to half way. It hadn't been a foul, so the ref let play go on as long as the home side looked threatening. Eventually we got the ball off them and started a counter-attack. Peep! went the ref's whistle. Oh right, so it's OK for one team to play on, but not the other. And then, rather than telling the Gills to give us the ball back, he decided a contested drop ball was a good idea. Plonker.
Shortly after, Alfie got free and after a mazy run smacked the ball well wide of the goal. I say mazy, it was mostly sideways - something that was repeated ad nauseam throughout the game. The Gills had a couple of long range shots, but Clarke dealt with them with his customary ease. I am very impressed that he hardly ever spills the ball from long shots. He looks as safe as houses. Robbie Hall was hacked down in the Gills penalty area, but the weak and fussy ref waved play on. We were now in the ascendency all over the pitch, with Gillingham looking very very poor. But as happens so often, we failed to take advantage by actually scoring a goal. Smalley was having another poor game, he doesn't look threatening and up front centrally on his own looks a long way short of what we need. Alfie was running his socks off, not always in the right direction and not always picking the right option at the end of the run, but he was putting a shift in. Hall (R) is lively and bright, but we can't rely on a 17 year old loanee for ALL our goals! The lack of striking power was very frustrating, because all over the rest of the pitch we looked very good indeed.
Then, about five minutes before half time, what turned out to be the decisive incident. Smalley went down with a head injury. Gillingham played on (that's fine, it's not their job to stop the game) - the ref (who job it IS) did bugger all. Thanks again mate. What happened to consistency? Smalley had to go off (holding a cloth to his head to staunch the blood). That's fine, we've got both Constable and Philliskirk on the bench. One of them would come on.
Except they didn't. For some reason CW decided to try and hang on until half time, so the misfiring Smalley could be brought back on after being patched up. I'd have thought it would have been an ideal opportunity to replace him. But no, we soldiered on with 10 men. So when the ball came up to Potter on the right, he had no striker to give it to. So he went backwards to try and find a yellow shirt to help him. He lost it and the ball went down the other end, a decent save from Clarke went eventually to a blue shirted Gill just outside the penalty area who unleashed a thunderbolt that Clarke had no chance of stopping. If we'd had eleven players on the pitch - who knows? Personally I feel it was a poor piece of thinking.
That just about finished the half. Somehow we had looked excellent, without coming particularly close to scoring and had managed to be behind. Quite an odd half of football really. The dancers came on again, some kids kicked a ball about in the goalmouth down the other end, the wind got colder.
So the second half started with Smalley repaired (looking rather like a boiled egg in a white eggcup) and no changes. After five minutes or so, it looked as if the ref had given us a lifeline, handing a second yellow card and therefore a red to a Gills player. So they were down to ten. They'd made it count in the five minutes when we were short and now we had 40 minutes to try and do the same. Heslop had a decent shot saved by the keeper and was looking dangerous. We were well on top. But just like last week at Macclesfield, for some reason Heslop was then taken off when he was looking good, this time to be replaced by Constable. I'm not sure what this taking Heslop off tactic is. He is the one midfielder likely to score from range. So now we had Constable up the middle, Mr Egg on the right and Robbie Hall on the left. Alfie was (I think) playing behind them. The ever-reliable Davis was combining well with Potter, with each of them setting up a chance for the other. Davis's effort was a lot closer than Potter's. But it looked like a goal was likely. Hall, Constable and Potter all had decent chances.
You'll notice that Smalley's name hasn't cropped up amounst those who were peppering the Gills goal. Obviously CW noticed as well (and about bloody time) and took him off, bringing on Danny Philliskirk. Whose first involvement in the game was to get himself booked. The ref obviously enjoyed the feeling he got from waving the card, bacause he now started to wave it at any yellows player who made a tackle. In fact he lost control of the game for the last 25 minutes or so, really - I'd guess the referee's assessor is going to have to buy some more red ink on Monday.
Gillingham were now putting all their players behind the ball, and threatening on the break. In fact they scored one that was ruled out for a (correct) offside. McLaren went off to be replaced by Asa Hall whose first two touches were terrible, but settled down after that. Jake Wright made a couple of horrible defensive mistakes passing back across his own area, luckily neither of which resulted in a goal. If you are under pressure, Jake - just hoof it onto the stands or up the pitch. Rolling it across your own penalty area is a bad idea.
Then another Gillingham player got himself sent off - a straight red for a two footed off the ground lunge on Asa Hall. But there was only a couple of minutes to go. And then the golden chance for us to level it. Constable beat the offside trap, lobbing t he oncoming goalkeeper. But with the whole goal to go for, he put it three yards wide of the right hand post. Noooooo.
And that was about it. The ref waved cards at Oxford players for no good reason, Clarke kept the score down to one with a good save, and that was it. Bugger. We'd done more than enough over the course of the match to earn at least a point, probably three. Poor finishing had cost us. But it was difficult to be too downhearted. We had lost, but the performance had been good. Much better than at Macc, where we had earned a point. Perhaps if we pretend that we had lost at Macclesfield and drawn at Gillingham? Yes, that's better.
Quickly out of the ground, back onto an ever slower M25, a dash up the A1(M) as an alternative to the M1 and home.
Thoughts from the day:
I am sorry, but I don't think Smalley is good enough. Every striker has lean patches where the don't score. But Smalley isn't even involved in the game for 90% of the time. There are a lot of things he can do when not directly involved. Track back, tackle, make runs across the defence to make space for teammates, just make a nuisance of himself. Maybe he needs to play in a team where he gets better delivery? Maybe he's injured? I don't know what it is - but give me a striker who is missing goals rather than one who goes missing any day.
We are still a bit sluggish in midfield. Heslop isn't quick either, but at least he carries a goal threat. Keep him on.
When BOTH sets of supporters are singing 'you don't know what you're doing' at the ref at the same time, you know he's had a total stinker.
A losing performance that was more encouraging than last weekend's draw.
Two home matches next - Plymouth on Tuesday and Port Vale on Saturday. Given that the two matches after that are away to Southend and Crawley, I think the two home matches are pretty much 'must wins' if we want to be able to look at the table without wincing in a month's time.
See you on Tuesday - COME ON YOU YELLOWS.
And the title of this post is the 'catchphrase' for the boardgame Frustration, which sums up my feeling about today!
Saturday 15 October 2011
A Rose by Any Other Name vs Macclesfield (L2)
Hi all -
Firstly an apology for the lack of a post after the Bristol Rovers game. Seeing as how there were over 9,000 there, you probably all saw it anyhow. It's water under the bridge now a week on, but I'd just like to highlight Ryan Clarke's excellent first half saves when the game was 0-0. It might have been very different if one of those had gone in. As it was, it ended up being a comprehensive and deserved victory over what looks like a mid table team.
On to today and away at Macclesfield. I decided to go up on the train. It's not a difficult journey, with the walk up the hill from the station to the Moss Rose being the worst bit! I'm a 'shirter' and it's always interesting when travelling by train when other supporters of all sorts of teams recognise the shirt/scarf/jesters hat/foam hand. First up were a couple of Fulham fans at Milton Keynes station. One of them reckoned he used to play for Wycombe and had played us a couple of times - might be true (who in their right mind would make up playing for Wycombe?). Anyway a bit of a natter, mutual good wishes (they were on the way to Stoke) and the train arrived. It was a change at Stoke for me as well, onto a Northern Trains errm train. A young couple spotted the shirt on that train and confessed they were Port Vale fans. Pleasant enough, but not coming to us in a couple of weeks because they had tickets for Jason Mamford apparently. Oh right. Again mutual good wishes (I had my fingers crossed though, so it didn't count) and into Macclesfield station to face the slog up the hill.
A couple of non-shirter Oxford fans spotted me and offered me and another chap a lift to the ground in their taxi. Very kind indeed, don't mind if I do. Turns out they are from Milton Keynes, so hello to them if they read this. The walk almost finished my dodgy lungs off last time, so much appreciated. Hello also to the other chap, who said he was from Sheffield. So I got to the the Moss Rose in very good time, and it brought back memories of the last time we were there (2 up at half time before Macc cheekily changed their tactics and ran out 3-2 winners. That was a terrible trip!). I was just hoping that the day went bettert his time around.
The Moss Rose shows signs of it's non-league past, but it's tidy enough and plenty big enough for the small crowds that turn up. 2,300 today apparently - with over 500 from Oxford. It must be difficult to get decent crowds with so many football clubs in such a small area. And I guess the financial situation isn't helping either, which (like so many manufacturing towns) Macclesfield looking a bit down at heel in places. Unlike some other places (Port Vale and Gilingham, I'm looking at you!) there is nice countryside very close, and the locals were pretty friendly.
The Oxford team was the normal back five (Clarke, Duberry, Wright, Batt and Davis), a midfield of Heslop, Mclaren and Leven and a nominal front three of Constable, Potter and Haworth. I guess that's a sort of 4-1-4-1 really, with McLaren sitting in front of the back four and Constable on his own up top (not my favourite role for him).
The sun was shining down , which is a good thing for the away support as the terrace is uncovered but a bad thing for the goalie at the away end as it must have been shining right in his eyes. The Macc goalie was the old Tamworth stopper Jose Veiga. More on him later, but he was in the sun first half, with the Us kicking towards the travelling fans. The low sun also had the effect of making the pitch markings very hard to see as a spectator. I could see the six yard area, just about make out the far end of the penalty box and the 'D'. After that - all guesswork.
The opening exchanges were pretty even with us making a decent start for once. In fact Macclesfield looked nervous, constantly giving the ball away. They did have couple of chances - one fizzing past Clarke's far post and one that he parried away. But it wasn't one way traffic, with Heslop hitting a shot into the goalies arms and Constable smacking one well over the bar when he might have done better. After about 20 minutes, Davis got free down the left and put in a beautiful driven cross-cum-shot. If only someone had gambled and got closer to the goal, it would have been a tap in.
Macclesfield weren't particularly dangerous in open play but were using their corners and Lewis Chalmers' long throws to threaten. An unmarked Macc striker headed wastefully over from one corner, and Clarke dived at a blue shirted attacker's feet to snuff out another attack.
Half time came. It hadn't be a particularly exciting half to be honest. We were misfiring (with too much in the air from back to front) and Macc weren't good enough to take advantage. Duberry's ball out of defence was a bit bizzare sometimes, hitting it straight up the pitch to precisely nobody. Into the corners would have been better. But his defending was top notch again. As the half had gone on, the Macc players had to a large extent given up challenging Doobs in the air - they knew he was going to win it anyway. The half time entertainment was an Under 10's side kicking the ball about. Fair enough, but the PA announcer's constant and repeated pleas for people to join the Under 10's club nearly made me want to volunteer just to shut him up. Nearly. The only thing under 10 about me is my dainty little feet. And no, it's not true what they say...
Ahem. Back to the football. Haworth had taken a knock in the first half, and was replaced by Robbie Hall at half time. Straight away, the lively Hall hit the Silkmen's crossbar, the ball flicking off to safety. Rats. Another shot from Heslop saw their goalie make a decent save. Now Veiga might be a decent shot stopper, but he can't kick. His dead ball kicks barely reached the half way line (probably - since I couldn't actually see it!), and he preferred to pass the ball to his defenders so they could hoof it for him. We were actually looking dangerous though, and it was a complete surprise when Heslop (who had carried the ball from back to front reasonably effectively and had made their goalie work) was subbed by Deane Smalley. Taking off a midfielder and replacing him with a striker? Hmm, not too sure about the wisdom of that really. Especially when that meant Smalley and Constable on the pitch together. They are very similar IMO. Neither is a real target man, neither is blessed with great speed, and both like to play down the middle.
A couple of minutes later (although not really caused by the substitution in any way), Macc took the lead. They too hit the crossbar, but instead of the ball harmlessly going over it bouced back and a Macc head put it just inside the post on the far side. Clarke was stranded and we were one down with about 20 minutes (plus important injury time) to go.
That ended Macclesfields ambition for the afternoon, seemingly they were happy to defend the one goal lead. So their game plan changed to inviting us on (and trying to hit us on the break) and wasting time, which the ref did little to stop. McLaren went off with a quarter of an hour to go, replaced by Asa Hall (wonder if him and Robbie Hal are brothers?). Normally when McLaren goes off, we ship a goal - but in this case there was little to lose, and Asa is certainly a more attacking option. Not that we looked much like getting an equaliser. Alfie hit the side netting when he might have been better pulling it back, Beano managed to get a point blank header saved by the goalie - instinctive reaction? Luck? A good save anyway. Then with just a minute left of injury time, Robbie Hall popped up with an equaliser - somehow making some space in the penalty are to silence the home fans and to give the yellow army something to cheer.
There wasn't long left, but Oxford poured forwards in search of a winner. However time ran out, and the ref blew a halt with the score 1-1.
Another away point. Brilliant. A brisk walk down the hill (so much easier!), a bit more natter with the MK-based Yellows supporters and another fan onhis way back to Oxford on the way back to Stoke and then onto MK and home. Amazing how many supporters were on the train. Not Yellows particularly, but loads of prem supporters on their way back down to London on the train.
So - the verdict? By no means a vintage Oxford performance. Too much head tennis. Erratic passing. But a good point, and due to other results largely going our way, up to third in the table.
We won't remember the game at the end of the season, but the point won't do us any harm! Man of the match - probably Clarke. He must be the best keeper in the division, and has come on leaps and bounds this season.
Next match - away at Gillingham. We will have to be better than we were today if we are going to get anything out of that one. I'll be there.
Come On You Yellows!
Firstly an apology for the lack of a post after the Bristol Rovers game. Seeing as how there were over 9,000 there, you probably all saw it anyhow. It's water under the bridge now a week on, but I'd just like to highlight Ryan Clarke's excellent first half saves when the game was 0-0. It might have been very different if one of those had gone in. As it was, it ended up being a comprehensive and deserved victory over what looks like a mid table team.
On to today and away at Macclesfield. I decided to go up on the train. It's not a difficult journey, with the walk up the hill from the station to the Moss Rose being the worst bit! I'm a 'shirter' and it's always interesting when travelling by train when other supporters of all sorts of teams recognise the shirt/scarf/jesters hat/foam hand. First up were a couple of Fulham fans at Milton Keynes station. One of them reckoned he used to play for Wycombe and had played us a couple of times - might be true (who in their right mind would make up playing for Wycombe?). Anyway a bit of a natter, mutual good wishes (they were on the way to Stoke) and the train arrived. It was a change at Stoke for me as well, onto a Northern Trains errm train. A young couple spotted the shirt on that train and confessed they were Port Vale fans. Pleasant enough, but not coming to us in a couple of weeks because they had tickets for Jason Mamford apparently. Oh right. Again mutual good wishes (I had my fingers crossed though, so it didn't count) and into Macclesfield station to face the slog up the hill.
A couple of non-shirter Oxford fans spotted me and offered me and another chap a lift to the ground in their taxi. Very kind indeed, don't mind if I do. Turns out they are from Milton Keynes, so hello to them if they read this. The walk almost finished my dodgy lungs off last time, so much appreciated. Hello also to the other chap, who said he was from Sheffield. So I got to the the Moss Rose in very good time, and it brought back memories of the last time we were there (2 up at half time before Macc cheekily changed their tactics and ran out 3-2 winners. That was a terrible trip!). I was just hoping that the day went bettert his time around.
The Moss Rose shows signs of it's non-league past, but it's tidy enough and plenty big enough for the small crowds that turn up. 2,300 today apparently - with over 500 from Oxford. It must be difficult to get decent crowds with so many football clubs in such a small area. And I guess the financial situation isn't helping either, which (like so many manufacturing towns) Macclesfield looking a bit down at heel in places. Unlike some other places (Port Vale and Gilingham, I'm looking at you!) there is nice countryside very close, and the locals were pretty friendly.
The Oxford team was the normal back five (Clarke, Duberry, Wright, Batt and Davis), a midfield of Heslop, Mclaren and Leven and a nominal front three of Constable, Potter and Haworth. I guess that's a sort of 4-1-4-1 really, with McLaren sitting in front of the back four and Constable on his own up top (not my favourite role for him).
The sun was shining down , which is a good thing for the away support as the terrace is uncovered but a bad thing for the goalie at the away end as it must have been shining right in his eyes. The Macc goalie was the old Tamworth stopper Jose Veiga. More on him later, but he was in the sun first half, with the Us kicking towards the travelling fans. The low sun also had the effect of making the pitch markings very hard to see as a spectator. I could see the six yard area, just about make out the far end of the penalty box and the 'D'. After that - all guesswork.
The opening exchanges were pretty even with us making a decent start for once. In fact Macclesfield looked nervous, constantly giving the ball away. They did have couple of chances - one fizzing past Clarke's far post and one that he parried away. But it wasn't one way traffic, with Heslop hitting a shot into the goalies arms and Constable smacking one well over the bar when he might have done better. After about 20 minutes, Davis got free down the left and put in a beautiful driven cross-cum-shot. If only someone had gambled and got closer to the goal, it would have been a tap in.
Macclesfield weren't particularly dangerous in open play but were using their corners and Lewis Chalmers' long throws to threaten. An unmarked Macc striker headed wastefully over from one corner, and Clarke dived at a blue shirted attacker's feet to snuff out another attack.
Half time came. It hadn't be a particularly exciting half to be honest. We were misfiring (with too much in the air from back to front) and Macc weren't good enough to take advantage. Duberry's ball out of defence was a bit bizzare sometimes, hitting it straight up the pitch to precisely nobody. Into the corners would have been better. But his defending was top notch again. As the half had gone on, the Macc players had to a large extent given up challenging Doobs in the air - they knew he was going to win it anyway. The half time entertainment was an Under 10's side kicking the ball about. Fair enough, but the PA announcer's constant and repeated pleas for people to join the Under 10's club nearly made me want to volunteer just to shut him up. Nearly. The only thing under 10 about me is my dainty little feet. And no, it's not true what they say...
Ahem. Back to the football. Haworth had taken a knock in the first half, and was replaced by Robbie Hall at half time. Straight away, the lively Hall hit the Silkmen's crossbar, the ball flicking off to safety. Rats. Another shot from Heslop saw their goalie make a decent save. Now Veiga might be a decent shot stopper, but he can't kick. His dead ball kicks barely reached the half way line (probably - since I couldn't actually see it!), and he preferred to pass the ball to his defenders so they could hoof it for him. We were actually looking dangerous though, and it was a complete surprise when Heslop (who had carried the ball from back to front reasonably effectively and had made their goalie work) was subbed by Deane Smalley. Taking off a midfielder and replacing him with a striker? Hmm, not too sure about the wisdom of that really. Especially when that meant Smalley and Constable on the pitch together. They are very similar IMO. Neither is a real target man, neither is blessed with great speed, and both like to play down the middle.
A couple of minutes later (although not really caused by the substitution in any way), Macc took the lead. They too hit the crossbar, but instead of the ball harmlessly going over it bouced back and a Macc head put it just inside the post on the far side. Clarke was stranded and we were one down with about 20 minutes (plus important injury time) to go.
That ended Macclesfields ambition for the afternoon, seemingly they were happy to defend the one goal lead. So their game plan changed to inviting us on (and trying to hit us on the break) and wasting time, which the ref did little to stop. McLaren went off with a quarter of an hour to go, replaced by Asa Hall (wonder if him and Robbie Hal are brothers?). Normally when McLaren goes off, we ship a goal - but in this case there was little to lose, and Asa is certainly a more attacking option. Not that we looked much like getting an equaliser. Alfie hit the side netting when he might have been better pulling it back, Beano managed to get a point blank header saved by the goalie - instinctive reaction? Luck? A good save anyway. Then with just a minute left of injury time, Robbie Hall popped up with an equaliser - somehow making some space in the penalty are to silence the home fans and to give the yellow army something to cheer.
There wasn't long left, but Oxford poured forwards in search of a winner. However time ran out, and the ref blew a halt with the score 1-1.
Another away point. Brilliant. A brisk walk down the hill (so much easier!), a bit more natter with the MK-based Yellows supporters and another fan onhis way back to Oxford on the way back to Stoke and then onto MK and home. Amazing how many supporters were on the train. Not Yellows particularly, but loads of prem supporters on their way back down to London on the train.
So - the verdict? By no means a vintage Oxford performance. Too much head tennis. Erratic passing. But a good point, and due to other results largely going our way, up to third in the table.
We won't remember the game at the end of the season, but the point won't do us any harm! Man of the match - probably Clarke. He must be the best keeper in the division, and has come on leaps and bounds this season.
Next match - away at Gillingham. We will have to be better than we were today if we are going to get anything out of that one. I'll be there.
Come On You Yellows!
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