Long Distance Love (vs Port Vale L2)

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!