The third home match in a row, but the first one to be on a Sunday. I guess it was so that people could watch the Wales/England match on the box at 3pm on Saturday. Personally I'd rather watch paint dry, not that I am particularly unpatriotic - but most of the players really look as if they'd rather be somewhere else most of the time. If they can't be bothered, then I'm not sure I can be either. Never mind, there's an exciting England/Ghana friendly on later this week (can you wait?!!) - although most of the 'first team' seem to have been let off (including the new 'permanent' captain) so they can go home and play with their consoles or send dodgy texts to young ladies who aren't their girlfriends.
Anyway, back to some proper football (rather than an 'Oooh blimey, how much did we pay for Wembley, better get our money back' fixture). The weather was warm, always a sign that, depending on your position in the table, the season is either sputtering out or racing towards an exciting climax. For us, it isn't quite clear yet. A defeat would probably (if not mathematically) mean our season was winding down, a draw was not really any good (especially looking at some of our remaining fixtures), only a win would do. In fact, as I drove down through sunny Beds, Northants and Oxon, I wondered about my determination to go away to Bury next Saturday if we did anything other than win today. It's been an expensive month, as well as the away matches I've shelled out for next season's Season Ticket. I'm sure those around me in the East Stand are delighted. Another season of my bad singing, bellowing at the ref and mood swings awaits them!
Got to the East Stand car park a little later than I hoped, (I'd had to go to a surgeon to have an arm and a leg removed to pay for the petrol) and doubted if there would be any spaces left. But luckily a straggler from the morning's car boot sale and his family were still packing his white van full of no-brandname cooking utensils and plastic toys, giving me a space to slide into. I amused myself watching them putting all the tat back into the van while I ate my lunch. Watching someone else work is so relaxing! The radio said there were no changes to the Yellows team, with Woodley coming onto the bench to replace the departed Jack Midson.
The prematch was enlivened by some more of the acrobatics cum cheerleading that had been on show at the Cheltenham game. Not really my type of thing, if I'm honest. When the teams ran out, I was delighted to see that Burton were wearing white, and hadn't done a Torquay and stuck to their yellow strip. We lost the toss and started by kicking towards the East Stand.
We have started quite well in many matches recently, but often find it impossible to make the superiority count. This time we were ahead after four minutes. Steve MacLean picked up a ball from Harry Worley and hit it goalwards. It took a deflection off a Burton defender and beat the Burton keeper (whose surname I'm not even going to attempt - let's just call him Adam!) by his right hand post. A great start!
The ref now started to have an effect on things. He was letting Burton players (especially Darren Moore, the very large central defender) use quite a lot of physical muscle to win the ball. Now that isn't something I'm against in general, I don't like the way that football is becoming a non contact sport. But enough is enough. He should really have at least tried to stop it happening, as it set the tone for the rest of the game. Craddock (I think) was booked for standing in front of a Burton free kick to stop it being taken quickly. He wasn't subtle about it, not even pretending to be organising a wall or something, and a Burton player (one of their center-halves) was booked for a tackle no worse than many that had gone before. It was followed by worse tackles that didn't get punished at all, like one that sent Paul McLaren crashing to the floor.
Craddock put a header wide, but Burton were coming back into it. They put one wide when they should have done better, and there was a scramble in the Oxford box where the ball was under nobody's control for what seemed like minutes! Now, if I were a lazy blogger, I could have written that the ball was pinging around the penalty area like a pinball. Now let me tell you, I have a (small) collection of (quite large) pinball machines. Yes, really. I'll show you in a future post sometime. When playing pinball the aim is to have the ball under control. By nudging the machine, by aiming your shots, by knowing what you are doing. It is very rarely some sort of random, multidirectional lottery as to where the ball ends up. Which is what it looked like in our penalty area. So it wasn't like pinball at all. The equivalent might be to say when you lose control of the pinball, to say that 'It was just like a football match'. That's not true either. So there! Anyway, if anyone was controlling any type of ball at all, it was Burton. They didn't look hugely dangerous (except when tackling!) but we had started to play the ball 'long' (Translation: hoof it anywhere), which didn't help - the ball kept coming back at us. Craddock looked as if he had sprung the Brewers offside trap when Beano put him through as half time loomed, but the lino had other ideas. Drat.
Half time came with us one to the good, but the match pretty even. There was more gymnastics, which was generously applauded. No random blokes kicking the ball at the crossbar. Good.
Paul McLaren didn't come out for the second half, being replaced by Josh Payne. I guess he was suffering the effects of that challenge in the first half. Payne is fast becoming an excellent footballer, one I am sure we will see a lot of next season, so that looked ike a sensible move. I was mildly surprised that Tom Craddock hadn't been subbed as well. He had been having a good game, but had been getting increasingly wound up. I was worried we wouldn't finish with eleven men, the ref being so inconsistent.
The first significant event of the half was a stray Oxford hand (Jake Wright I think) waving about in the air and getting a touch of the ball perilously close to the Yellows penalty area. The free kick seemed to take an age to take, and when it did the Burton player just lobbed it weakly into Ryan Clarke's arms. Feeble.
We than went two up. The ball was hit up to Beano on the left hand side of the the Burton penalty area. He was being marked by Darren Moore, who foolishly let the ball bounce. As he often does, Beano managed to get hold of the bouncing ball and got goal side of the huge Moore, who brought him down. Probably the easiest decision of the afternoon for the ref. Penalty - definitely. Red card (dneying a goal scoring opportunity) - certainly. Moore knew what was coming, and took it well. Craddock took the penalty (despite MacLean wresting him for the ball! Sort it out lads!), and he to took it well. He beat Adam L easily, putting us two up.
Burton looked like a beaten team with half an hour still to go. Heslop almost headed a third and Payne blasted one over the bar. Clarke went down to gather the ball to foil one of the very rare Burton attacks and from his throw out, the Us put together a lovely move ending in a great cross from Tonkin that picked out Craddock, who scuffed his shot. A pity - it would have been the best-worked goal of the game by some way. MacLean also spurned an excellent chance when he found himself one-on-one against the Burton keeper afer some nice crisp passing, and Clarke came out to gather at a Burton players feet in what was their last meaningful attack of the match.
Burton were soon down to nine men, with their other centre back tackling Beano and earning himself a second yellow. The red mist descended and Beano got a yellow as well. Very wisely, he was soon taken off and replaced with Hackney - who came on and looked lively immediately. With only ten minutes or so left against nine men, Oxford played the ball across the field probing for an opening. Some of the more vocal members of the crowd wanted the ball forward quicker (but them they'd been saying that since the fourth minute!), but the patient play produced two great chances for Craddock that he couldn't take. But eventually the Burton defence cracked.
Hackney to Craddock on the right hand side of the penalty area, round the keeper and unselfishly across the face of the goal to Steve MacLean, who gratefully accepted the chance. 3-0. A couple of minutes of injury time when we looked more likely to score than Burton and it was all over.
The crowd of over 7,100 (about 250 from Burton I'd guess) had seen a decent win albeit against a fairly poor Burton team who had only showed any quality in small patches. Their supporters must be worried. We were encouraged by the clean sheet (the first one at home since early September!!!), and another good performance.
A good run home in the extra hour's sunlight.
Thoughts:
The glowing embers of the season are still alive.
Heslop had a good match, as did most of the team. I am getting to be a bit of a Payne fan and Worley's distribution was much improved.
I probably lost count, but the ref managed to dish out 7 yellow cards and two reds in a game that wasn't at all dirty! He did get the major decsions right though as far as I could see - just a bit card happy...
The bright lights of Bury are beckoning...
Oxford United, Stereo Photography, Old Amusement Machines, Odd Musical Instruments and more.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Saturday, 19 March 2011
A motley Crewe (L2)
It's a bit odd the way that the fixtures have ended up in this part of the season. The natural order of things is a home game followed by an away game. Not away, away, away followed by home, home, home as the March fixtures have been. So it was the second trip down to Grenoble Road in a week. I could only hope that it would be better than Tuesday night's pathetic showing against Stevenage.
The pre-match news was that there were five changes in the starting lineup from that match. In came Batt and Tonks for Kinniborough and Purkiss (who didn't make the bench), Beano for Midson, new boy Ryan Burge for Clist (who also didn't make the bench) and Heslop for Payne. To be honest, there was nobody who could have been assured of their place after Tuesday. The rumours at the ground were that Midson was off on loan (Barnet) and that Simon Clist might also be shipped out. Kinniborough and Purkiss might be looking for another club in the summer as well, I think.
The away match at Crewe had ended up as a 1-1 draw, with a Crewe winner being disallowed after the lino was reminded of the offside rules and Beano being sent off for a second yellow - something that everyone in Gresty Road could see was going to happen as he charged hell for leather towards a Crewe player! It had been a decent point. On their travels recently, Crewe had been poor - not winning in seven. Not that that makes any difference, Gillingham hadn't won away since man learned to walk upright and we duly help them to get rid of that particular jinx! Crewe had also won three of their last four. Hmm. There's one word that seems to sum up League 2 this season. Inconsistent. not just us, but many of the other teams in and around the playoffs.
It was a sunny, calm day down in deepest Oxfordshire. Which was a good thing as a bit of wind would have meant that Crewe striker Donaldson wouldn't have been able to stand up at all. As it was, he kept falling to the floor for no explicable reason all afternoon!
Crewe obviously hadn't done their homework. First of all, they won the toss and then let us kick towards the fence end in the first half. More seriously they hadn't been told that there is a simple way to win against us. (This is publicly avaialable information for anyone who has seen us this season, but any opposing managers who find this a useful tip, please make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care, our charity at the ground today). The secret is....
... challenge us for the ball, all over the pitch, often in pairs.
It's that easy. Nasty, in-yer-face, scrappy teams with lttle skill have done this to us all season (Stockport did it twice for God's sake) and we have rolled over. The teams that play 'better football' and try to take us on that way find us a much more difficult proposition. Mind you, when we played Crewe at their place, they thought we were one of the nasty, scrappy teams! I presume that there were some teams (cough, Stevenage, cough) they hadn't come across by then!
Anyway, Crewe played it pretty. That made for an open game, and it was pretty even for the first quarter of the game. Clarke made a decent (if fairly regulation) save, Crewe headed one wide, we had a couple of not terribly accurate shots at the other end. It wasn't brilliant, but it was 1000% better than Tuesday. Heslop was looking much better going forward and Burge (why does that name give me the shivers?!) started slowly, but gradually found the pace of the game and started to look good, actually looking up before passing! In fact all of the midfield were challenging for the ball with an enthusiasm unseen only four days ago. Encouraging.
After half an hour, we went ahead. As always, from my vantage point in the East stand things are a bit confused up the other end, but this is how I saw it. Beano and Craddock were very close together (TC closer to the goal) when Beano poked the ball netwards. It wasn't the best strike he's ever made, but the goalie seemd completely wrongfooted and the ball bumbled apologetically into the net with him totally stranded. It looked as if the goalie had been expecting Craddock to have the ball at his feet and wasn't watching Beano properly. At least that what it looked like. Was Craddock in an offside position? Impossible to say from where I was. If he was, was he interfering with play? Probably. But there was no flag, and Beano could claim his fist goal for quite a while. He was relieved, we were relieved. There wasn't a huge protest from the Crewe players, which maybe tells you something.
Every time anyone went near Donaldson, he went down as if he had been shot. The ref bought it every single time, and every time he got a free kick. A few minutes after we'd taken the lead, he was challenged by Jake Wright on the left hand side of our penalty area. Now it was certainly a foul this time although Donaldson made the biggest meal of it that you can imagine. A whole banquet in fact. Wright was booked (a bit harshly) and then Maclean in a display of complete stupidity hoofed the ball right across the pitch. Unsurprisingly he too went in the book. I have no idea at all why he did it. We broke away from the resulting free kick, but play was halted when the ref noticed Beano lying prostrate in our penalty area. He'd collided with the right hand goalpost with a sickening thump. Those around me said he'd been pushed by a Crewe player. I claim a 'Wenger' - I didn't see it. The ref obviously didn't either, as he took no action. Luckily Captain Beano is made of stern stuff and soon recovered. The half ended with us generally on top, and growing in confidence.
Half time. I took some strong hallucinogenic drugs as soon as the whistle blew. When they kicked in, I was teated to the sight of a crossbar challenge involving the usual ne'er-do-wells from the east stand, Timmy 'Wackaday' Mallet and a giant daffodil. Psychedelic, man.
The second half started much as the first had finished. Neither team made any changes to personnel, formation or tactics. The referee was having (let's be kind) a bit of a stinker. The Crewe goalie rushed out to smother the ball and slid out of the left hand side of his penalty area, still carrying it. The east stand saw it, the south stand saw it, the north stand saw it, all the players from both teams saw it. The ref and his lino didn't. Incredible. The play was fairly end to end, although neither team was creating clear cut chances.
Potter and Payne came on for Craddock and McLaren. Cradock's substitution was understandable. I know McLaren is (in footballing terms) getting on a bit, but I fear for our defence when he doesn't complete the whole match. It was (as always) a double substitution 15-20 minutes into the second half. As regular as clockwork. Potter loked lively as soon as he came on, and Payne slotted right into the midfield.
Ten minutes later, another midfielder played a huge part in our second goal. Ryan Burge challenged for the ball and won it well. He ended up on his arse, but was alert enough to see Beano making a run, got up, got the ball and passed it properly. Beano tok it with all the confidence of a man who has broken a goal-scoring drought and planted the ball in the right hand corner of the Crewe goal. Great stuff. An on-song Beano is going to help us keep our faint play-off hopes alive.
Burge was also finding his feet (unlike Donaldson, who was still diving about like a ballerina with the vapours), and almost played Potter in. If he can play like this, he also will be a valuable asset.
The ref was starting to get a bit fed up with timewasting by us, but it was very mild compared to some of the stuff we have seen from teams at the Kassam this season. The unlucky man to push him over the edge was Tonkin. He took no more time than is usual, but got a yellow from Mr Boyeson. (Boyeson Ivy, whoah oah oh).
Our defence were standing pretty firm (although crosses were still coming in a bit too easily for my liking), and a cross-cum-shot by Heslop was clearly deflected out for a corner to us. Apparently not. Again, everyone apart from the officials had seen it quite clearly. Clayton Donaldson had an opportunity to pull one back for Crewe, but his feet are no better at kicking a ball than they are at keeping him upright and he hit the side netting when he should have done better. Worley got a yellow for something (looking at the ref in a funny way, probably), and Hackney came on for MacLean, who had looked much more lively than in recent outings. The match went into injury time with us looking comfortable and for the most part on the front foot. Crewe did score a scruffy deflected goal in the dying seconds (no home clean sheet for us since early September!!) but it was to little too late and the ref blew to bring the match to the end.
A funny match. At times in the first half, it rather felt like a pre-season friendly. The crowd were quiet (as was I, but I've got a sore throat. I hope you don't catch it by reading this blog. Computer viruses - very infectious!), the sun was warm, there wasn't a huge amount of intensity on the pitch. But it got better as it went on. A fairly quick drive home, this time avoiding The Great Roadworks of Northampton.
Thoughts:
Now two points off the playoffs, which looks good - other results went pretty much our way.
But other teams have games and goal difference in hand, which doesn't look so great.
Much, much better than Tuesday. Nowhere near perfect, but better.
Burge looks like he could make a positive difference, but early days yet.
CW is obviously thinking about next season. I hope he doesn't go mad and throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I still think we'll end up short - hope I'm very wrong.
Barnet and Stockport - goodbye!
For some reason that I don't know, next weekend's fixture is on Sunday. Against Burton, who will be scrapping for points, desperately. See you there.
The pre-match news was that there were five changes in the starting lineup from that match. In came Batt and Tonks for Kinniborough and Purkiss (who didn't make the bench), Beano for Midson, new boy Ryan Burge for Clist (who also didn't make the bench) and Heslop for Payne. To be honest, there was nobody who could have been assured of their place after Tuesday. The rumours at the ground were that Midson was off on loan (Barnet) and that Simon Clist might also be shipped out. Kinniborough and Purkiss might be looking for another club in the summer as well, I think.
The away match at Crewe had ended up as a 1-1 draw, with a Crewe winner being disallowed after the lino was reminded of the offside rules and Beano being sent off for a second yellow - something that everyone in Gresty Road could see was going to happen as he charged hell for leather towards a Crewe player! It had been a decent point. On their travels recently, Crewe had been poor - not winning in seven. Not that that makes any difference, Gillingham hadn't won away since man learned to walk upright and we duly help them to get rid of that particular jinx! Crewe had also won three of their last four. Hmm. There's one word that seems to sum up League 2 this season. Inconsistent. not just us, but many of the other teams in and around the playoffs.
It was a sunny, calm day down in deepest Oxfordshire. Which was a good thing as a bit of wind would have meant that Crewe striker Donaldson wouldn't have been able to stand up at all. As it was, he kept falling to the floor for no explicable reason all afternoon!
Crewe obviously hadn't done their homework. First of all, they won the toss and then let us kick towards the fence end in the first half. More seriously they hadn't been told that there is a simple way to win against us. (This is publicly avaialable information for anyone who has seen us this season, but any opposing managers who find this a useful tip, please make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care, our charity at the ground today). The secret is....
... challenge us for the ball, all over the pitch, often in pairs.
It's that easy. Nasty, in-yer-face, scrappy teams with lttle skill have done this to us all season (Stockport did it twice for God's sake) and we have rolled over. The teams that play 'better football' and try to take us on that way find us a much more difficult proposition. Mind you, when we played Crewe at their place, they thought we were one of the nasty, scrappy teams! I presume that there were some teams (cough, Stevenage, cough) they hadn't come across by then!
Anyway, Crewe played it pretty. That made for an open game, and it was pretty even for the first quarter of the game. Clarke made a decent (if fairly regulation) save, Crewe headed one wide, we had a couple of not terribly accurate shots at the other end. It wasn't brilliant, but it was 1000% better than Tuesday. Heslop was looking much better going forward and Burge (why does that name give me the shivers?!) started slowly, but gradually found the pace of the game and started to look good, actually looking up before passing! In fact all of the midfield were challenging for the ball with an enthusiasm unseen only four days ago. Encouraging.
After half an hour, we went ahead. As always, from my vantage point in the East stand things are a bit confused up the other end, but this is how I saw it. Beano and Craddock were very close together (TC closer to the goal) when Beano poked the ball netwards. It wasn't the best strike he's ever made, but the goalie seemd completely wrongfooted and the ball bumbled apologetically into the net with him totally stranded. It looked as if the goalie had been expecting Craddock to have the ball at his feet and wasn't watching Beano properly. At least that what it looked like. Was Craddock in an offside position? Impossible to say from where I was. If he was, was he interfering with play? Probably. But there was no flag, and Beano could claim his fist goal for quite a while. He was relieved, we were relieved. There wasn't a huge protest from the Crewe players, which maybe tells you something.
Every time anyone went near Donaldson, he went down as if he had been shot. The ref bought it every single time, and every time he got a free kick. A few minutes after we'd taken the lead, he was challenged by Jake Wright on the left hand side of our penalty area. Now it was certainly a foul this time although Donaldson made the biggest meal of it that you can imagine. A whole banquet in fact. Wright was booked (a bit harshly) and then Maclean in a display of complete stupidity hoofed the ball right across the pitch. Unsurprisingly he too went in the book. I have no idea at all why he did it. We broke away from the resulting free kick, but play was halted when the ref noticed Beano lying prostrate in our penalty area. He'd collided with the right hand goalpost with a sickening thump. Those around me said he'd been pushed by a Crewe player. I claim a 'Wenger' - I didn't see it. The ref obviously didn't either, as he took no action. Luckily Captain Beano is made of stern stuff and soon recovered. The half ended with us generally on top, and growing in confidence.
Half time. I took some strong hallucinogenic drugs as soon as the whistle blew. When they kicked in, I was teated to the sight of a crossbar challenge involving the usual ne'er-do-wells from the east stand, Timmy 'Wackaday' Mallet and a giant daffodil. Psychedelic, man.
The second half started much as the first had finished. Neither team made any changes to personnel, formation or tactics. The referee was having (let's be kind) a bit of a stinker. The Crewe goalie rushed out to smother the ball and slid out of the left hand side of his penalty area, still carrying it. The east stand saw it, the south stand saw it, the north stand saw it, all the players from both teams saw it. The ref and his lino didn't. Incredible. The play was fairly end to end, although neither team was creating clear cut chances.
Potter and Payne came on for Craddock and McLaren. Cradock's substitution was understandable. I know McLaren is (in footballing terms) getting on a bit, but I fear for our defence when he doesn't complete the whole match. It was (as always) a double substitution 15-20 minutes into the second half. As regular as clockwork. Potter loked lively as soon as he came on, and Payne slotted right into the midfield.
Ten minutes later, another midfielder played a huge part in our second goal. Ryan Burge challenged for the ball and won it well. He ended up on his arse, but was alert enough to see Beano making a run, got up, got the ball and passed it properly. Beano tok it with all the confidence of a man who has broken a goal-scoring drought and planted the ball in the right hand corner of the Crewe goal. Great stuff. An on-song Beano is going to help us keep our faint play-off hopes alive.
Burge was also finding his feet (unlike Donaldson, who was still diving about like a ballerina with the vapours), and almost played Potter in. If he can play like this, he also will be a valuable asset.
The ref was starting to get a bit fed up with timewasting by us, but it was very mild compared to some of the stuff we have seen from teams at the Kassam this season. The unlucky man to push him over the edge was Tonkin. He took no more time than is usual, but got a yellow from Mr Boyeson. (Boyeson Ivy, whoah oah oh).
Our defence were standing pretty firm (although crosses were still coming in a bit too easily for my liking), and a cross-cum-shot by Heslop was clearly deflected out for a corner to us. Apparently not. Again, everyone apart from the officials had seen it quite clearly. Clayton Donaldson had an opportunity to pull one back for Crewe, but his feet are no better at kicking a ball than they are at keeping him upright and he hit the side netting when he should have done better. Worley got a yellow for something (looking at the ref in a funny way, probably), and Hackney came on for MacLean, who had looked much more lively than in recent outings. The match went into injury time with us looking comfortable and for the most part on the front foot. Crewe did score a scruffy deflected goal in the dying seconds (no home clean sheet for us since early September!!) but it was to little too late and the ref blew to bring the match to the end.
A funny match. At times in the first half, it rather felt like a pre-season friendly. The crowd were quiet (as was I, but I've got a sore throat. I hope you don't catch it by reading this blog. Computer viruses - very infectious!), the sun was warm, there wasn't a huge amount of intensity on the pitch. But it got better as it went on. A fairly quick drive home, this time avoiding The Great Roadworks of Northampton.
Thoughts:
Now two points off the playoffs, which looks good - other results went pretty much our way.
But other teams have games and goal difference in hand, which doesn't look so great.
Much, much better than Tuesday. Nowhere near perfect, but better.
Burge looks like he could make a positive difference, but early days yet.
CW is obviously thinking about next season. I hope he doesn't go mad and throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I still think we'll end up short - hope I'm very wrong.
Barnet and Stockport - goodbye!
For some reason that I don't know, next weekend's fixture is on Sunday. Against Burton, who will be scrapping for points, desperately. See you there.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
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.
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.
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