Hmmm Slight inability to spot a purposefully ridiculous statement..... :na:Burnhamgull wrote: Hmmm Slight over reaction.....
Oxford United v Torquay United - 9/4/12
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Gazzableedsgull
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Deffo secured a play off spot with 4 games left, i know its not what we want but we know our season wont be over if we fade away! big game Saturday!
Dreaming Of Promotion ..
That was a bit of a rollercoaster. Not really sure what to make of it as one of our better first halves I've seen was followed by a truly dismal second half, and we manage to escape from the toughest game on our run in with a point. Luckily I've got a horrendous queue to get out of the car park to note my thoughts.
As I've said, first half was one of our better recent performances. Bit of a frantic start with both sides carving out half chances. Rene was giving them a real torrid time at the back, whilst Oxford showed very little going forward aside from a few long range half chances.
As is often the pattern of our games these days, we started bright, soaked up some pressure and then hit them. A long ball was played out from the back and into the left channel. The Oxford centre half slipped at the crucial moment, and Rene was free. He took a steadying touch, opened his body and calmly rolled the ball past the sprawling keeper at the near post. Quality finish.
First half we could have easily added to that solitary goal. Some quality link up play between O'Kane and Rene saw the big man deliciously curl the ball into the far corner, but belatedly the offside flag went up and it was chalked off. And later, a drilled cross from Nico was half cleared to o'Kane, but about 10 yards out with just the keeper to beat he blazed wildly over.
Oxford still only had their long range half chances to show for the first half, although they did nearly profit from an uncharacteristic Bobby fumble but Olejnik was able to block the rebound. Constable was trying his best to rile Saah up, but Oxfords incessant long balls were just finding the heads of Ellis and Saah. Half time went and we were pretty comfortable.
So I have no idea where it all changed. Rendell came on for Constable, but he didnt make an overly obvious impact. So I can only assume that the wind I can hear howling around my car now was much worse on the pitch than it felt in the stands.
That said, we could easily have been 2 up in the first few minutes. Howe got in behind on a long ball, jinked past the keeper and shot. A defender blocked it on the line, but it fell to Howe who turned it back across goal for O'Kane to tap home. There were no complaints from the Oxford players, but the lino raised his flag for offside. That causes much consternation from the gulls support, especially as Oxford had a defender on the line. But all this was being played out goal-side of the Oxford keeper, and I can only assume that they scrubbed the goal as Rene's pass to Eunan was marginally forward. 2-0 and I would have been confident we could have seen it out.
But soon we started to rock. Bobby fumbled a long range effort, the rebound was squared for Rendell who with all the goal to aim out was denied by an outstanding block from Saah. But it wasn't long before we were in deeper trouble - after Oastler had conceded a corner with a brave block, the resulting flag kick was curled straight into the top corner. It must have been wind- assisted, and was a shocking goal to concede.
Rather than show the cool mentality that has characterised this season, we went to bits. Loose passes everywhere, giving away cheap fouls (although the ref couldn't wait to give decisions to Oxford) and players getting pulled all over the place. From an abysmally selfish Nico effort, Oxford broke. The ball came to the right hand side, Nico hadn't recovered his position and their lad had an easy cross. Montano got across the near post and firmly headed home. 2-1 and we were in trouble.
It got worse. By now Howe had come off for Taiwo, for what I can only assume was a knock but that now meant we had no physical presence up front. Bobbys kicking was all over the place and we still couldn't find a white shirt (reassuringly we had no problems finding a yellow one!). Morris had got himself booked for a late challenge, and had been quite ineffectual second half so we were debating whether LRT should get a run, when he again went in slightly late on Whing in the middle of the park. It didn't look like a bad tackle, but Whing took exception and a brawl ensued. Whing and Morris both got yellow cards, which of course sent Morris down the tunnel.
With no option on the bench, we went for broke the only way we know - Ellis up front. That left gaping holes at the back, which was exacerbated by Oastler and Lathrope clearly breathing out of their backsides for the last 10 mins. Bobby made one decent save from an angled shot, and but for some more cultured and calm build up on the break we could have conceded again. One example was an unforgivably over-hit cross from Morgan to Rendell when Rendell had acres of space if he'd been given half a chance.
A little back-story that came to prominence at the end was the antics of Oxfords keeper Clarke. He clearly picked up a knock and was hobbling round in agony for at least 20mins. He was letting defenders take goal kicks, and taking an age to do it much to the disgust of the away support. I'm not sure if Oxford had a sub keeper on the bench, but I don't think they used all their subs so it seemed mental to keep him on.
All we needed to do was fire one into him. At no point in the second half did we do this, until the clock clicked 90. Some patient build up was getting us nowhere, Atieno - our main striker - was playing tippy-tappy on the edge of the box rather than getting in their in anticipation of a cross. The Oxford defence were happy for us to play in front of them. Eventually Taiwo found half a yard, and unleashed a left footed shot which seemed routine for our hobbling home keeper. He managed to get across a get a firm hand on it........ A firm hand that only succeeded in diverting the ball into the side netting (luckily for us, the right side of the side netting). The crowd went wild, Taiwo made a bee-line for the crowd and joined us for a cuddle and got a yellow card for his troubles. A massive let off. A fully fit keeper would have had no such trouble keeping that out. We pushed on again at the end, trying to snatch a winner but Jarvis and O'kane were unable to get shots away and the game petered out into a draw.
On the plus side, that was by far our hardest game and we came away with a point which I would have taken. However, the second half performance was poor. Lathrope, Oastler, O'Kane, Bobby were all noticeably below par. Results elsewhere didn't do us any favours, and it was worrying that we really lost discipline and shape second half.
I would have taken a defeat if it meant we kept a 4 or 5 point gap to Crawley. As it is we are left waiting on them to implode now that Evans has gone. It might turn out to be a point gained, but for me we now must win the last 4 games, and have hopes that Dagenham or Northampton can take their improved recent form into games with Crawley. Unfortunately promotion isn't in our hands now.
Oh, and in all this time the cars in front of me haven't moved. Glad I've not got that far to travel!
As I've said, first half was one of our better recent performances. Bit of a frantic start with both sides carving out half chances. Rene was giving them a real torrid time at the back, whilst Oxford showed very little going forward aside from a few long range half chances.
As is often the pattern of our games these days, we started bright, soaked up some pressure and then hit them. A long ball was played out from the back and into the left channel. The Oxford centre half slipped at the crucial moment, and Rene was free. He took a steadying touch, opened his body and calmly rolled the ball past the sprawling keeper at the near post. Quality finish.
First half we could have easily added to that solitary goal. Some quality link up play between O'Kane and Rene saw the big man deliciously curl the ball into the far corner, but belatedly the offside flag went up and it was chalked off. And later, a drilled cross from Nico was half cleared to o'Kane, but about 10 yards out with just the keeper to beat he blazed wildly over.
Oxford still only had their long range half chances to show for the first half, although they did nearly profit from an uncharacteristic Bobby fumble but Olejnik was able to block the rebound. Constable was trying his best to rile Saah up, but Oxfords incessant long balls were just finding the heads of Ellis and Saah. Half time went and we were pretty comfortable.
So I have no idea where it all changed. Rendell came on for Constable, but he didnt make an overly obvious impact. So I can only assume that the wind I can hear howling around my car now was much worse on the pitch than it felt in the stands.
That said, we could easily have been 2 up in the first few minutes. Howe got in behind on a long ball, jinked past the keeper and shot. A defender blocked it on the line, but it fell to Howe who turned it back across goal for O'Kane to tap home. There were no complaints from the Oxford players, but the lino raised his flag for offside. That causes much consternation from the gulls support, especially as Oxford had a defender on the line. But all this was being played out goal-side of the Oxford keeper, and I can only assume that they scrubbed the goal as Rene's pass to Eunan was marginally forward. 2-0 and I would have been confident we could have seen it out.
But soon we started to rock. Bobby fumbled a long range effort, the rebound was squared for Rendell who with all the goal to aim out was denied by an outstanding block from Saah. But it wasn't long before we were in deeper trouble - after Oastler had conceded a corner with a brave block, the resulting flag kick was curled straight into the top corner. It must have been wind- assisted, and was a shocking goal to concede.
Rather than show the cool mentality that has characterised this season, we went to bits. Loose passes everywhere, giving away cheap fouls (although the ref couldn't wait to give decisions to Oxford) and players getting pulled all over the place. From an abysmally selfish Nico effort, Oxford broke. The ball came to the right hand side, Nico hadn't recovered his position and their lad had an easy cross. Montano got across the near post and firmly headed home. 2-1 and we were in trouble.
It got worse. By now Howe had come off for Taiwo, for what I can only assume was a knock but that now meant we had no physical presence up front. Bobbys kicking was all over the place and we still couldn't find a white shirt (reassuringly we had no problems finding a yellow one!). Morris had got himself booked for a late challenge, and had been quite ineffectual second half so we were debating whether LRT should get a run, when he again went in slightly late on Whing in the middle of the park. It didn't look like a bad tackle, but Whing took exception and a brawl ensued. Whing and Morris both got yellow cards, which of course sent Morris down the tunnel.
With no option on the bench, we went for broke the only way we know - Ellis up front. That left gaping holes at the back, which was exacerbated by Oastler and Lathrope clearly breathing out of their backsides for the last 10 mins. Bobby made one decent save from an angled shot, and but for some more cultured and calm build up on the break we could have conceded again. One example was an unforgivably over-hit cross from Morgan to Rendell when Rendell had acres of space if he'd been given half a chance.
A little back-story that came to prominence at the end was the antics of Oxfords keeper Clarke. He clearly picked up a knock and was hobbling round in agony for at least 20mins. He was letting defenders take goal kicks, and taking an age to do it much to the disgust of the away support. I'm not sure if Oxford had a sub keeper on the bench, but I don't think they used all their subs so it seemed mental to keep him on.
All we needed to do was fire one into him. At no point in the second half did we do this, until the clock clicked 90. Some patient build up was getting us nowhere, Atieno - our main striker - was playing tippy-tappy on the edge of the box rather than getting in their in anticipation of a cross. The Oxford defence were happy for us to play in front of them. Eventually Taiwo found half a yard, and unleashed a left footed shot which seemed routine for our hobbling home keeper. He managed to get across a get a firm hand on it........ A firm hand that only succeeded in diverting the ball into the side netting (luckily for us, the right side of the side netting). The crowd went wild, Taiwo made a bee-line for the crowd and joined us for a cuddle and got a yellow card for his troubles. A massive let off. A fully fit keeper would have had no such trouble keeping that out. We pushed on again at the end, trying to snatch a winner but Jarvis and O'kane were unable to get shots away and the game petered out into a draw.
On the plus side, that was by far our hardest game and we came away with a point which I would have taken. However, the second half performance was poor. Lathrope, Oastler, O'Kane, Bobby were all noticeably below par. Results elsewhere didn't do us any favours, and it was worrying that we really lost discipline and shape second half.
I would have taken a defeat if it meant we kept a 4 or 5 point gap to Crawley. As it is we are left waiting on them to implode now that Evans has gone. It might turn out to be a point gained, but for me we now must win the last 4 games, and have hopes that Dagenham or Northampton can take their improved recent form into games with Crawley. Unfortunately promotion isn't in our hands now.
Oh, and in all this time the cars in front of me haven't moved. Glad I've not got that far to travel!
I would have settled for a point before today but looking at Crawley's run-in I am worried we may end up in play-offs and teams who miss out on autos often falter in the play-offs. You can almost imagine us not getting to the final when in reality it has been a much better season than last when we did make the final.
Perhaps the reality of Evans will hopefully have an effect on Crawley over the coming games.
Perhaps the reality of Evans will hopefully have an effect on Crawley over the coming games.
toughest game of the run in........have you not seen the current form of crewe or possibly hereford with their league status at state or southend with one of the best away records.EVERY GAME will be tough
hector wrote:I would have settled for a point before today but looking at Crawley's run-in I am worried we may end up in play-offs and teams who miss out on autos often falter in the play-offs. You can almost imagine us not getting to the final when in reality it has been a much better season than last when we did make the final.
Perhaps the reality of Evans will hopefully have an effect on Crawley over the coming games.
Crawley were apparently hopeless today at Barnet but , like us, somehow won there.
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bixieupnorth
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whatever happens it been a superb season, altho I'll be devastated if we end up in the playoffs, I can't take the pressure of the whole season in 2 or 3 games!
anyway we're still 2nd, it's up to both of them to better our record after winning or in shrews case drawing their game in hand?
there's many a slip twixt cup and lip!
anyway we're still 2nd, it's up to both of them to better our record after winning or in shrews case drawing their game in hand?
there's many a slip twixt cup and lip!
still keeping the faith
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jocktheknife
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Just not gone for us today..........talk of two debatable offside decisions costing us and apparently Barnet threw the kitchen sink at Crawley, who thanks to a fair bit of luck and great keeping somehow held on.
In my opinion, it's all on Saturday for us - a win against Southend and i think it's autos, the confidence that would give us and the pressure it would put on Crawley with games running out could be key......anything less than a win then its play offs.
In my opinion, it's all on Saturday for us - a win against Southend and i think it's autos, the confidence that would give us and the pressure it would put on Crawley with games running out could be key......anything less than a win then its play offs.
....aka jmgull.
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yellow
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It was a rollercoaster. Great entertainment for a neutral, but an emotional drain for the Yellow army who were in good voice.
From looking like a routine 1-0 away win following more Renee magic, which could have got to 2-0 (we await video evidence that Eunan was indeed offside) we were then hanging on to 2-1 down with 10 men, as Oxford put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance. Finally at 2-2 it seemed like a point gained following a goalkeeping howler. Serves the time wasting bas*ard right!
Pitch was lovely. The stadium could be as well if they built the remaining stand. God how I hate 3 sided stadiums (except for Plainmoor), particularly those with a car park at one end like this and Bournemouth.
Thought DS was back to his frustrating worst. Too many moves broke down when they reached him. On the plus side Brian Saah was magnificent. Great positioning and interventions when required.
Bobby wasn’t as assured as usual albeit it was a horrible swirly wind to contend with. He could do nothing with their second from a lovely retrieved cross and a thumping header.
Couldn’t see where our threat was coming from once Renee departed but Tino got lucky with a speculator. Bless him.
And onwards we go....
From looking like a routine 1-0 away win following more Renee magic, which could have got to 2-0 (we await video evidence that Eunan was indeed offside) we were then hanging on to 2-1 down with 10 men, as Oxford put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance. Finally at 2-2 it seemed like a point gained following a goalkeeping howler. Serves the time wasting bas*ard right!
Pitch was lovely. The stadium could be as well if they built the remaining stand. God how I hate 3 sided stadiums (except for Plainmoor), particularly those with a car park at one end like this and Bournemouth.
Thought DS was back to his frustrating worst. Too many moves broke down when they reached him. On the plus side Brian Saah was magnificent. Great positioning and interventions when required.
Bobby wasn’t as assured as usual albeit it was a horrible swirly wind to contend with. He could do nothing with their second from a lovely retrieved cross and a thumping header.
Couldn’t see where our threat was coming from once Renee departed but Tino got lucky with a speculator. Bless him.
And onwards we go....
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
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Forest gull
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I believe it was our toughest run in game because we were away to a play off chasing team.
Still think we can get autos. Win against Sarfend and we will be in prime position.
COYY
Still think we can get autos. Win against Sarfend and we will be in prime position.
COYY
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bixieupnorth
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I wish I shared yr optimism mate
still keeping the faith
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oxgull
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Not much to add to Jeff's report except that it was a point won when I thought we'd blown it. I had the dubious company of the drunk guy in the ManU T Shirt for the whole of the first half. You know the one if you went today and saw him dancing to the band the Rock Doctors in the tent at the Priory. Kept swearing his head off inside the ground, so much that the stewards were going to eject him. No, I'm happy with 4 out of 6 points over Easter and I am absolutely drained after that today. Yellow army, our yellow army, were class today!!!!!! 
Oblivion!!!!
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bixieupnorth
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man u shirt in the Torquay end, what a knob!
still keeping the faith
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Plymouth Gull
Haha you must have been near me then. He started off next to me but I moved as he was doing my head in.oxgull wrote:Not much to add to Jeff's report except that it was a point won when I thought we'd blown it. I had the dubious company of the drunk guy in the ManU T Shirt for the whole of the first half. You know the one if you went today and saw him dancing to the band the Rock Doctors in the tent at the Priory. Kept swearing his head off inside the ground, so much that the stewards were going to eject him.
As for the game, can't help but feel robbed, what was wrong with our goal at the start of the second half, the defender who made the original block must have been playing them onside?! Crazy decision, had that been 0-2 we'd have gone on to win comfortably.
Haven't seen a highlight but its unlike Bobby to get beaten like that, maybe a push from one of their players but who knows.
Good turnout, good atmosphere - almost left before Atienos equaliser though! Would have been amazing if we won it when about 4 players tried to hit it from the edge of the area but couldn't connect!
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