A woeful performance at home to Morecambe on Saturday saw Oxford United miss out on a golden opportunity to cement their position in the play-offs.
Buoyed by an impressive four-match unbeaten record, which included a battling point away at play-off rivals Cheltenham Town and an emphatic 2-0 victory at Accrington Stanley’s Crown Ground, Oxford now had ambitions on a top three finish. However, the defeat to Morecambe put an abrupt end to such wishful thinking and left United precariously positioned in the play-offs once more, only three points ahead of Crewe Alexandra outside the much-coveted top seven.
That such a desperate showing should come at a pivotal moment of the season is both surprising and worrying. Morecambe are too many points adrift to mount a late play-off charge, yet throughout the encounter the Lancashire side were the hungrier, more determined and crucially, more clinical. Oxford looked lethargic and sluggish, while their customary slick passing was alarmingly wayward.
In fairness to Oxford, Morecambe’s opener, inside three minutes, came with an element of good fortune. An aimless shot from Danny Carlton, the Morecambe right-back flew in off the head of Craig Curran. Determined to make immediate amends, the U’s fashioned a chance that eventually fell to Scott Rendell to bundle home. At this stage, with the match barely five minutes underway, the crowd sensed a home victory. Instead of capitalising on Rendell’s equaliser though, United reacted into their shell, seemingly satisfied to soak up Morecambe pressure.
A large portion of the blame for such a disappointing defeat must be attributed to manager Chris Wilder. His team selection and substitutions were baffling. In particular, his decision to firstly bring in Deane Morgan and Cristian Montano on loan and then to hand them both a starting berth defied belief. Morgan was arrogantly lazy, prancing around the Kassam turf as if he were above this League 2 malarkey. Sorry to say Mr Morgan, you are not. Worse still was Montano. Released earlier in the season by Paolo Di Canio after four wretched performances for Swindon, he was caught in possession on almost every occasion he came away with the ball. As such, any United attack subsequently fizzled out due to the hapless pair of loanees on the wings.
Then, in the second half, Wilder replaced arguably Oxford’s most committed performer, Adam Chapman, for James Constable. Two things were wrong with this change: first, Chapman should have remained on the pitch. Second, Constable ought to have played from the start. This meant that Oxford switched from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 formation which left the home side even more exposed in the wide areas. Fifteen minutes later, Wilder finally ripped off the agricultural Montano for Mark Wilson, who then took up Chapman’s position albeit with less swagger and influence, leaving the United fans confused as to why Chapman had ever been replaced in the first instance.
With United lacking direction, ideas and leadership, Morecambe’s pressure eventually relented when the superb Lewis Alassandra whipped in a corner than was headed home by veteran Stuart Drummond ten minutes from the end. In the late stages, Oxford’s man of the match, Asa Hall, almost stole a point when his stinging left foot drive was saved by Barry Roche, but this would have flattered the below-par home side.
This was a bitterly frustrating afternoon that put a juddering halt to United’s promotion push. On the bright, Oxford have JP Pittman, Oli Johnson and Michael Duberry are all back in contention for Good Friday’s must-win game away at a resurgent Northampton Town.
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