Oxford vs Torquay - Match Thread

[Southampton Gull]

Oxford to Southampton = 60 miles, Paul driving, so hardly flying, even your rust-bucket would get me home faster

[SuperNickyWroe]

Oxford to Southampton = 60 miles, Paul driving, so hardly flying, even your rust-bucket would get me home faster

thanks dave.

[PlainmoorRoar]

Fantastic win, especially with 10 men for most of the game

but im so glad Kee got a goal, hopefully now he can find some of the form that made him so attractive in the first place

[Yellow4life]

What a great attendance! Over 6,000 on a Tuesday!

If only we could get 2/3rds of that!

[Rjc70]

We were excellent tonight. Wroe and Bevan were stand out performers. Bevan particularly in the first half. Their keeper had a blinder in the second half. For all Oxford's huffing and puffing we had the best chances in the second half, (they had one which Constable put well wide) with Wroe and Kee x2 going close, but thwarted by a desparate clearance in Wroe's case and very good goalkeeping in the case of Kee.

Kee's winner was class. The relief and joy of our 10 brave souls on the pitch was immense and there for all to see.

Benyon had run his legs off and was beginning to be a not very close second up front due to understandable tiring and Kee hassled and harried and made good positions for himself. The substitutions tonight were spot on.

Wroe provided an outlet for the defence countless times and was often then the major player when it came to attacking seconds later. His hold up play to bring others in was exceptional and exactly what was needed during times when we looked likely to be overrun.

Bit tired, so Beaufort Scale ratings as follows:-

Bevan 9 (Cracking - One save in front of us in the first half defied belief.)
Oastler 7 (Hard working)
Branston 6 (Solid)
Ellis 7 (Very solid)
Nicholson 5 (Sluggish at times)
Wroe 9.5 MOTM (Masterclass)
Mansell 8 (Snapping away)
Benyon 7.5 (Pedometer reading of just over a marathon)
Zebroski 7.5 (Good defensively)
Rose 8/Robbo 6 (Rose - very good and dangerous looking, but sacrificed for the greater good. Robbo - Solid with poor distribution unless Wroe was right by him for the simple one).

O'Kane 7 (Didn't think he'd be up for a scrap. He was and provided a little bit extra for Oxford to think about)
Kee 8 (Puffing, my arse. Love that man, so I do.)

[sexygulls]

Basically we defended very narrowly and deep, letting Oxford pump balls into the box only for Branston and Ellis to clear pretty much every single time. If Oxford had stopped to think for one second and tried another approach then they probably would have got back in the game. In the end for all their possession and what seemed like 20+ corners Bevan didn't really have that much to do, other than the fantastic save from Constable in the first half.

Rose was subbed because he clearly wasn't going to put in the shift that was required to hold Oxford at bay, plus he looked pretty unfit for me. Clearly Robbo on a right back with Mansell moving to midfield worked.

Everyone was excellent, with special mention to Benyon who's reward for chasing everything down was to get hacked all game, Wroe who rubbished the belief that he is 'lightweight' and Branston who unfurled his full range of 40 yard clearing headers and hoofs.


Matt Green was useless

[oxgull]

That was probably the best and gutsyest Torquay away performance I have seen in years!! Down to 10 men and a goal up and OUFC coming at us in waves for the remaining 70 odd minutes or so but the tactical awareness of Paul Buckle completely cancelled out Chris Wilder's boys and you should have listened to JackFM's footy show afterwards on the radio. You'd have thought Oxford had just been relegated!! Yellow army in great voice (weren't we??) Is this a fire drill? as their fans streamed away near the end was just a classic. Great night out and only 16 miles to get home again. bragging rites are mine!!!!!! Even said "Hi " to Southamptongull too.

[HRG]

Great to read such positive reports and gutted I wasn't there.
Refering to the substitution doubts, which I was guilty of, it's good to read the perspectives of those that were there, it's impossible to judge accurately when relying purely on updates from fellow fans, as informative and humorous as they are! (I don't even have Gullsplayer :Oops: ). Buckle according to all of you who traveled was spot on and the result proves that. Bucks bless him hasn't always made the best subbing decisions so it's easy to think the worst will happen. I've always said that I'm happy to be wrong and never more so then last night. But all credit to him and the players they pulled a blinder.
More please!

[Fonda]

Evidently a great performance and result. Most important aspect of which ongoing was a goal for BK. Just what he needed, and hopefully we'll see what he's all about in the coming weeks.

[BlueYellow]

The game wasn't won by a footballing performance yesterday, it was won by an amazing work ethic and pride. We battled for everything and we wanted it more. It was a hard thought plan by buckle that almost went up in smoke after Lloyds sending of, but the it just made are players battle more and more. Branston threw himself around alot and won everything that came within 10 yards of him, all he needs to work on is the distribution side of things. He showed what football is about(including his headstand cameo in the first half!). As for Kee's goal, it meant so much for him and the rest of the team, the celebrations were to us, the fans. It will do him the world of good. When i was on the way home from Gillingham I said that was the most important point of the season and that it was the turning point. There belief and passion our players have will win most of our games this year, not the footballing side of it.

[chippygull]

Well well.. what a night!
Turning up early, the empty stadium looked even more like an oversized three sided Subbuteo set than ever! We wandered over to the Priory pub in the wasteland near by, but unlike previous years, it was devoid of Gulls fans, so as it filled up, it became slightly threatening, so we sampled the delights of the greasy bacon rolls, before sloping in to join a great turn out of travelling fans! Strangely, despite the fashion disasters of white shorts and white socks in recent games, we were back to all yellow, which seemed odd, as Oxford were yellow and navy, but as we chanted "There's only one yellow army!"

We started confidently, but an obvious danger was Nico being left to defend Batt who looked their most dangerous player, and as we know, Nico is League 2's Glenn Johnson, great going forward but suspect at times in defence. However, it didn't take long for him to toddle across to the right wing for the free kick which he whipped in. From where we were sitting (it felt like another postcode!), it seemed to fly straight in, and Nico got the congrats, but apparently Batt had covered back and deflected it in!

Our left was proving a problem, as, even when he beat Batt, Nico had little option but to feed Macklin, who showed nice first touches but then immediately gave the ball away, time and time again! He swapped wings, but then in his frustration, kicked out at Tonkin after a scuffle. As it happened in front of the dugouts and the Oxford fans, maybe the red card was inevitable, but even some U's fans thought it was harsh.

It felt like we were going to be in for a long night as the wind blew plastic bags towards their goal, that was the only thing moving in that direction! I take back what I've been saying about Branston, he was immense, despite some comical high slices under pressure. Mans at RB was underemployed and Ellis had the two carthorses, Constable and Craddock in his pocket for a while. When they broke through, Scott made an incredible one-handed stop from Constable from five yards out that in some ways proved the turning point of the game! It was brilliant and obviously instilled massive confidence into the back four as the Oxford Alamo charged and charged again! A twenty yarder was tipped over the bar as Scott arched to the left to prevent another certain goal. Batt was continuing to cause havoc down the left and it wasn't until the increasingly languid Rose was substituted for Robbo and Mans came over to protect the left. This was a match saving substitution and all credit to Bucks for it!

Towards the end of the half, Oxford looked increasingly likely to score, but strangely, Wilder decided to completely alter it around and brought on two wingers who made Danny Stevens look tall; neither of whom could cross to save their lives, and Scott spent much of the second half plucking their ineffective loops out of the air. Meanwhile, Benyon was magnificent up front on his own. Never have I seen a player accelerate so fast over three yards to constantly pressurise their back players in to sending high hopeful nonsense balls into the windy night! Zeb too is a class above.. stridingly mightily across the field, marauding with confidence and style. It was odd that he came off. Possibly knackered or strained, but the Eddie Gray sloping shoulders of O'Kane came on to shore things up quite adequately.

The Oxford fans were well and truly dispirited by now, and low murmurings and boos greeted every failure in attack. Benners was knackered and rightly was taken off for a rest! Kee looked keen, but it was so noticeable that his pace was 20% that of Eliot, no matter how enthusiastically he moved his tubby little body around. I can't really decide if it was a couple of great saves by Clarke or appalling misses by Kee that presaged our second goal, but we didn't half look good on the counter as stupid Oxford went gung-ho with no effect. I feel if he'd chipped Clarke on either occasion, the match would have been over. No worries, though, because minutes from time, he got his breakthrough, and the relief was palpable, not just for Billy, but for the whole team, as there was no going back for the Us now!! Their fans streamed away to our chants of "Is this a fire drill?", and four inexplicable minutes of injury time dragged on till the match was won.

Scenes of great jubilation of course, and it's always great to see the players run across to us. One vignette that speaks volumes for the spirit of the team was Eliot running over to Billy and mobbing him deliriously for breaking his goal-scoring duck. Bucks and the boys came over and applauded and we made our way to the car park scrum and off in to the night!

What a great, great night. To be honest, Oxford were appalling and at this rate their over-sized barn of a atmosphere free stadium will be hosting Histon and Fleetwood soon; but Oxfordshire bragging rights are mine for a while now. " Their boys took a hell of a beating!" To me, it was a crucial game, one that could have made the difference between mid-table mediocrity and a real play off challenge. The substitutions were tacticly astute, the effort and commitment were second to none, and every player (except Macklin and possibly Rose) deserve every credit for a backs to the wall performance that will live long in the memory!

[westbaygull]

Great reports, thanks!! Sounds like a fab night, think those of us listening on Player were living on our nerves while you lot were all more confident.

[Awayday]

I am not going to add any further match reports, I think everyone has more than covered my feelings and thoughts.

I would like to say that Nicholson, Branston and Bevan all played an absolute blinder and hopefully they will continue to work the way they did. After Saturday's game I was worried that Nicholson would start a little nervy and Guy and Bevan didn't really communicate properly, but the all put that behind them.

There is no MOTM match for me, it was a team effort and they all deserved the 3 points.

I would like to comment on the crowd last night though, what an atmoshphere. It was one of those games that no matter what chants we started at the back of the terrace (exluding the "Green is a self pleaser" chant which I didn't join in with) pretty much every body joined in. Who needs a drum (yes swivel, you would have loved it)? I think the one that capped it was the "Cheerio", when we looked down, every single gull was on their feet waving to the Oxford faithful as they piled into the car park. I wished I had time to video it on my phone now.

Lastly it is worth mentioning how good the Oxford fans were. The last few games there has ended with some unfavourables waiting outside the away end. It seemed the police and stewards were a little bit more prepared, but from what we saw there was no trouble at all.

[Oxford Fan]

Chippygull -

Towards the end of the half, Oxford looked increasingly likely to score

Oxford Alamo charged and charged again

To be honest, Oxford were appalling

Not sure how you reconcile the first two comments with the latter! We were poor at set pieces and missed our chances. But appalling? No. We were appalling at Bradford on Saturday. Last night we just lacked any sort of edge.

[chippygull]

You were appalling BECAUSE you charged and charged again at us and produced nothing, not despite it. Two things: Why did Wilder bring on ineffective wingers just after your brightest spell (35-45 mins)? and : did you see the sending off? what really happened?