Reality Check

Enough talk of Wembley and the Tuesday night trip to Premiership opposition West Ham, this match at home to Accrington Stanley was a return to reality for Oxford United.

Accrington Stanley had brought a travelling army of 123 supporters to the Kassam, armed with a banner stuck to the back of the away end that read, ‘Stanley: the pride of Lancashire.’ This was a fitting statement, for as I read through the match day programme, I noticed that bar an Irishman, a Pole and a Yorkshire man, each and every one of the Accrington Stanley squad hailed from the North West of England, nine of whom were Liverpudlians. I remembered having watched three of them, Ray Putterill, Jimmy Ryan and Craig Lindfield in the Liverpool’s FA Youth Cup win over Manchester United in 2007. Even their manager John Coleman was a committed Lancastrian, having played for Kirby Town, Burscough, Marine, Southport, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Morecambe and Lancaster. Oh, what a glittering career. The whole Accrington Stanley set-up was a far cry from another team in Lancashire, owned by a certain Sheik Mansour. It was a refreshing change to see a squad that was made up almost entirely of local lads that played with a great togetherness and spirit. It was unlike the squad of glitzy individuals amassed by Sheik Mansour 20 miles down the county that are held in common only by a hefty pay check at the end of the week.

Back to the game, the energy and purpose that Oxford had shown at Wycombe the previous week and at Upton Park on Tuesday night had been replaced by laborious punts up into the air and wayward passing. (I have been told we played well at West Ham anyway. I unfortunately could not be at the game, as I was at visiting my girlfriend in Edinburgh. Yes, I know what you’re thinking.) The 4-3-3 formation that had proved so effective in the play-offs in promoting fast flowing attacking football, was now encouraging the long-ball game. Our tactic was very simple. As early as possible, a cross field ball was aimed in the direction of tall Jack Midson on the left wing, who in turn tried to flick it on to the tireless James Constable. It reminded me of the Ian Atkins years, where we were dogged and hard to break down, yet created very few clear-cut chances. It did not make for great viewing. I dreaded a return to those days.

Oxford could just not get a foot-hold in the match. We sorely missed the ability of a Dean Whitehead to take the game by the scruff of the neck, or the quality of an Adam Murray to dictate the proceedings. It still greatly pains me that Murray left us for rivals Luton Town for geographical reasons. For those of you not familiar with the story, it is Oxford United club policy that players must live within a commutable distance of the city. Murray was unwillingly to relocate from Derby, and as such he was released. I never knew Derby was such a wonderful place to live. I mean, the spires of Oxford or the Industrial museum of Derby?

As such, we lacked class and invention and were instead flat and one-dimensional. It was a stark contrast to the youthful Accrington Stanley, who zipped the ball about in a style of football that was attractive on the eye. Jimmy Ryan, their squat central midfield player and ex-Liverpool youth was running the show. He was the best player on display by a country mile.

Oxford were diabolically wasteful in possession. Our full-backs Anthony Tonkin and Ben Purkiss, were particularly sloppy in their distribution, while midfielders Dannie Bulman and Simon Heslop, in his awkward running style, frequently gave away missed placed passes. We failed to release dangerous winger Matt Green down the right flank in a one-on-one with their left back, while star striker Constable was frustratingly isolated. Worryingly, our new signings looked more like squad players, than those able to set a game alight. My Dad, seated next to me, summed it up by labelling out most exciting summer signing, Heslop, as ‘a carthorse.’

The only time in the game when we looked threatening was with the introduction of Alfie Potter. Fleet-footed Potter, as we saw at Wembley is a fantastic option for Chris Wilder on the bench. He is every tiring defender’s nightmare, as he is direct, quick and skilful. With ten minutes left on the clock, he left the Accrington defence for dead, ghosting three defenders before slipping the ball to Constable, who came alive for the first time in the game forcing a great save from the Accrington Stanley goalkeeper, Alex Cisak (who is unsurprisingly the one Pole in the Accrington squad that I alluded to before.)

Welcome back to reality Oxford United. The adventures of Wembley and Upton Park are behind us now. This is going to be a difficult season and a tricky league that will require much better showings that this one if we are to succeed.

Derby Day

It was one of those days. However hard Oxford United pushed and, despite dominating the second half, the ball would just not find the Wycombe Wanderers net.

Adams Park, home of Wycombe Wanderers, is not your typical football ground. A woodland backdrop overlooks the stadium, rather than a run-down rowdy pub. Indeed, there is no pub in sight; the nearest one is a fifteen minute brisk walk from the ground.

As such, it took longer than usual to fill the away end with yellow shirts. With five minutes till kick off, though, we were in full force and bellowing out the chants. Our desperation to get out of the wretched Conference, and the journey that had taken us to the play-offs and then Wembley had made our fans even more of a collective unit. We had suffered the worst together. Yet now we were back in the Football League, and very happy to be. We thus demonstrated our togetherness and pride by roaring Oxford songs at the muted Wycombe supporters.

The first half was a classic English lower league clash. It was gritty, dogged and passionate, yet lacked that cutting edge. The half belonged to the centre-halves of each side, and also to Wycombe’s well-balanced, elegant central midfielder Lewis Montrose who stroked the ball around with apparent ease. Oxford struggled to assert themselves on proceedings, not helped by losing energetic right-back Damian Batt to injury early on. The best chance of the half fell to Wycombe. An over hit, fizzed cross from the left alluded the Oxford defence and was met by Matt Phillips steaming in at the back post, who scuffed the ball wide.

Wycombe may have shaded the first half, yet Oxford steamrolled them after the break. Straight off the kick off, speedy forward Matt Green was released and crashed the ball against the bar, via a spectacular fingertip stop by keeper Nikki Bull. The crowd sensed Oxford’s growing confidence and the noise levels rose, reverberating round all corners of Adams Park. Five minutes later, it was James Constable who should have put Oxford ahead. A mix-up in the Wycombe penalty area saw the ball drop at Constable’s feet who swivelled and instinctively swung his right foot at it, only to find Bull in the way once more. A goal felt inevitable.

However, as Oxford had found to their peril against Bury the previous week, teams in League 2 are more able to launch a successful counter-attack than those in the Conference, and that is just what happened. Anthony Tonkin, whose distribution had been sloppy throughout, was robbed of the ball on the half-way line by Wycombe’s nippy forward, Kevin Betsy, who sprinted towards the goal and only had Ryan Clarke to beat. Thankfully, Betsy thought he was more Thierry Henry than Dean Windass and his attempted chip sailed harmlessly over the bar. It was a let off.

Still Oxford pushed though, and Green was sent one-on-one with Bull again, but his shot was scrambled out for a corner. Then, a moment of magic from captain Constable. A rare mistake from Bull saw his throw intercepted by Constable who, Torres-like cut in on his right foot and slammed against the upright, via another brilliant fingertip stop from Bull. The final minutes saw both sides go all out for the three points. However, the last chance of the match came to Oxford’s Jack Midson, whose header from a Jake Wright free-kick crept agonizingly past the right post.

Sadly, we were denied the chance to bring the roof down at Adams Park. Still, a positive performance from Oxford United; it is only a matter of time before we record our first league win of the season.