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Post by junior1 on Jan 17, 2011 8:29:22 GMT
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Post by grumpygit on Jan 17, 2011 9:05:40 GMT
A very well written report. Jon Murray, please read ! |
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Post by gottagetbetta on Jan 17, 2011 9:11:20 GMT
Thanks for posting that Junior, that cheered up a sodden and grey morning! A well written report that was a pleasure to read. Compare and contrast.....
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Jan 17, 2011 9:13:55 GMT
Thanks for the link, Junior. An enjoyable read!
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Post by druid on Jan 17, 2011 9:44:46 GMT
I'm sure Tonks will like the bit about his "youthful" enthusiasm.
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Post by ekon on Jan 17, 2011 11:05:44 GMT
yep..very accurate..ta junior
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Post by Maurice Earp on Jan 17, 2011 11:11:11 GMT
Can anyone cut and paste the report as I am at work and the internet security will not allow me to read it.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Jan 17, 2011 11:16:26 GMT
Here you go:
Oxford United 2, City 1
A visit to Britain’s oldest seat of learning provided a reminder of football’s most basic lesson for the bedraggled Bantams.
In the city famed for its universities and academia, City were schooled by their hungry hosts – and you didn’t need a university degree to work out why.
Putting it simply, if you don’t get the ball, you can’t expect to win the match.
The stats showed that Oxford enjoyed 63 per cent of the possession. It seemed much more than that. The only sum that didn’t add up was the final score.
Just as there weren’t five goals between the teams at Valley Parade in October, the 2-1 verdict did not reflect what had just gone on. This was as one-sided an afternoon as City are likely to suffer all season.
Oxford, on this evidence, have learned fast from the naivety that saw them collapse during the second half in West Yorkshire.
That lopsided loss was one of six in seven games which suddenly threw up question marks about whether the league new boys and boss Chris Wilder had been found out by the step-up a division.
The answer is a resounding no. Saturday was their sixth win in seven since, a run that has seen them ease five points past Peter Taylor’s sorry lot.
Wilder’s side are full of confidence; the youthful enthusiasm from the likes of Damian Batt and Anthony Tonkin, the goals of Tom Craddock and James Constable and the round-the-block know-how he recently added by recruiting Paul McLaren from Tranmere.
City fans know what McLaren is all about, though he himself has been the first to admit that his year at the club was a complete flop.
But given time and space, there is no more precise passer from that deep midfield role – and City gave him all the room needed to pull the strings effortlessly on his first appearance at the Kassam.
With full backs Tonkin and Batt bombing past him up and down the flanks, Oxford were given a free rein to attack, attack and attack again.
So we saw a 90-minute version of an attack v defence training drill. And all this after the Bantams had, once again, struck first.
Only nine minutes had gone when they forced their solitary corner. Robbie Threlfall’s kick swirled on the strong wind, David Syers nodded goalwards and Omar Daley’s flailing leg caused enough unrest in the six-yard box to see the ball sneak in.
It was an unexpected reward from a rare excursion into Oxford territory. The rest of the first half, and most of the second, was spent defending the away goal.
Taylor had opted for pace over power up top, with Mark Cullen and Daley forming a diddy strike force. James Hanson, who had not trained all week, and Gareth Evans were consigned to bench duties.
The thinking was to exploit any lack of speed in a back four that had shipped more home goals than any other in League Two. The plan never got off the ground.
Taylor had seen enough by half-time and replaced a tiring Cullen with Evans. Jake Speight quickly followed in place of Daley, who had just wasted a huge opportunity to double City’s advantage.
A second goal would have rewarded the gutsy defending going on at the other end. Oxford, though, would have viewed it as a travesty.
Having peppered away at the City box, a blunder by Asa Hall on the halfway line threatened to hand the visitors some much-needed breathing space.
Evans accepted the gift and released Daley one on one with Ryan Clarke. The Jamaican looked favourite to score but the Oxford keeper celebrated his new contract by pulling off a top-class smother.
Normal service swiftly resumed as wave after yellow wave pounded at the City penalty area.
Lenny Pidgeley blocked from Craddock and substitute Constable, while Rob Kiernan and Threlfall threw themselves boldly in the path of other goal-bound efforts.
City had one last sniff of a breakaway but Speight’s sloppy pass found a defender rather than intended target Evans.
Constable, Oxford’s leading scorer, had provided fresh impetus on his arrival. Prepared to shoot at the slightest possibility, he rumbled around and got the crowd going.
He knew, they knew, we all knew that City’s resistance would be breached sooner or later. The fact that they hung on as long as the 77th minute should not disguise Oxford’s total dominance.
Constable was the instigator but Pidgeley should have done better dealing with his well-struck thump. Instead the ball deflected off the keeper and fell for Steve Maclean to force in at the far post, despite the desperate efforts of Kiernan.
From that point, there was only going to be one outcome. City’s shattered defensive limbs faced another huge examination to stave off Oxford’s renewed surge for a winner. They survived only four more minutes.
Constable, who else, charged down the right and when his low cross spun off Threlfall’s heel and across the goalmouth, there was Craddock to convert another scrambly finish.
Taylor threw the dice and brought on Hanson and there was a slither of hope when Luke Oliver’s flick skimmed past the post. But having seen so little of the play for so long, it was expecting too much for City to suddenly conjure up a last-gasp comeback.
They had failed their Oxford examination and the 500-plus away fans trailed away convinced that this will be another flunked season.
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Post by rambler on Jan 17, 2011 11:19:05 GMT
Yes thanks fot the link junior, a very good read for a monday morning
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snafu
Full Member
Posts: 100
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Post by snafu on Jan 17, 2011 12:22:35 GMT
An excellent and unbiased report, but did the reporter watch the same match as Peter Taylor? ;D
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Post by one trick Raponi on Jan 17, 2011 18:10:19 GMT
Cheers Junior. Great read that.
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Post by SuperOx on Jan 17, 2011 20:08:34 GMT
On McLaren:
But given time and space, there is no more precise passer from that deep midfield role – and City gave him all the room needed to pull the strings effortlessly on his first appearance at the Kassam.
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Post by Cowley Yellow™ on Jan 17, 2011 20:27:39 GMT
Thanks for the link junior, what a great read ;D
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Post by OxYellow on Jan 18, 2011 14:43:48 GMT
Nice one Junior, a great read! Especially agree with the comments about Mclaren too! he really was excellent, and they summed up his afternoons performance very well.
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Post by Up The Manor on Jan 18, 2011 15:10:36 GMT
Yea good read...even better the northern monkeys all bitter about,how we won!
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Post by yellowdog on Jan 21, 2011 5:56:03 GMT
what an honest reflection of a superb game
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