Oxford United: August 2009

Hello everyone and welcome friends to the next installment of my new story. The past week has been so busy at work and home I had almost lost the momentum of continuing on. Anyway, here’s what’s happening with Oxford.

Finally the first game of the season and we are at home to York City. We got off to a flying start with Eyjolfsson scoring on the volley after only 9 minutes as York failed to a cleared corner properly. Our joy however was short lived as York equalized on the volley 4 minutes later when we left their right winger unmarked on a set piece. Disaster happened around the half hour as York scored two in the space of three minutes but then Paterson pulled one back, heading in from a Batt cross and so we went into the interval 3-2 down. I knew the score wasn’t reflective of our performance and didn’t change anything. We laid siege to the York goal in the second half and Paterson got the equalizer off a through ball by Dannie Bulman which he turned sweetly on to hammer in the top left hand corner of the net. A darting run by Chanot down the right flank gave him space to lay in a cross which the York keeper fumbled into the back of his on net and we were in the lead. Fatigue started to set in on the York team which allowed Paterson to complete his hat-trick by placing the ball into the back of the net off another through ball by Bulman. After the final whistle I learned that the injury to Eyjolfsson was worse than feared and so he will be going back to West Ham.

On next game was away to Kettering and the only change was up front as Paterson had been called up for the Scottish U21 squad and was replaced by James Constable. It was Kettering who took the early with Nade heading home after 9 minutes but Damine Plessis on loan from Liverpool  put us back on level terms with a screamer from 20 yards out. Nade put Kettering back in front for a second time and kept the pressure on to find a third goal. We switched from attack to control which immediately paid dividends with Creighton heading in from a corner to make it 2-2. We kept our tactical approach into the second half and finally took the lead for the first time in the game as Constable held up the ball well as we cleared out of defence and played a neat one-two with Bulman who found striker Midson in space to fire us in front. We held on comfortably after that to take all three points.

The third game of the month was away to Histon and we got of to a good start as left winger Jamie Cook put us ahead from a corner kick after just 10 minutes. Histon though took the game to us right from the re-start and pressured us for the remainder of the first half with goalkeeper Ryan Clarke having to pull off a number of saves. In the second half Histon continued with the pressure and eventually found their equalizer after 55 minutes by working the ball into the box to set up the goal. We then dominated the remainder of the game setting up a number of chances for the front pair of Paterson and Midson but in the end a 1-1 draw was fair result.

We returned home for our next game against Chester and from the opening kick off looked the better side putting the visitors under early pressure and we were almost rewarded with a goal as Simon Clist hit the underside of the bar after only six minutes. I had made a number of changes to the team due to fatigue but nonetheless this group looked comfortable together. To my surprise it was Chester who took the lead after 15 minutes sending the ball down the right flank and working it in behind defender Ross Smith for the go ahead goal. Twelve minutes later right winger Damian Batt made his own run down the wing but instead of crossing intelligently placed a through ball to Midson who struck home the equalizer. Defender Ross Smith made up for his earlier mistake by heading in from a corner on the stroke of half time. Chester were never able to come back from that and although Clist hit the bar for a second time we just couldn’t find that third goal we deserved but we did get all three points.

Following the game my physio reported that Midson who fell heavily during the game will now be out for about seven weeks joining Sam Deering on the injury list. I’ll have to go looking for another loan striker.

The following game was also at home against Stevenage, a team who had decided to pack the midfield in in the hopes of breaking down our attacks early and get at least a point from their visit to the Kassam Stadium.As the game got underway Matthew Paterson was looking sharp up front and had  a couple of early chances but it was Stevenage who took the lead having somehow managed to thread the ball into the box for Brouwer to hit home. We had to wait some time to fashion the equalizer when skipper Dannie Bulman raced into the penalty area and scored a bullet like diving header from a Chanot cross to make it 1-1. After the interval both Paterson and substitute Matthew Clarke both hit the woodwork and Paterson  had two attempts finding the side netting only. In the end Stevenage did get the point they were looking for.

Our next match was away to Wimbledon and we fell behind early to an identical goal scored by Stevenage in our previous game so once again we found ourselves chasing the game. Within the next ten minutes following that goal I could see things were not going to go our way as Wimbledon were easily coping with our attacks and most of shots were going well wide. New signing Matthew Hamshaw from Notts County was making inroads down the right flank but the Wimbledon defence was handling his crosses into the box. Wimbledon doubled their lead after the half time which all but finished off the game but Paterson did get a consolation goal for us with a lovely strike on the turn in injury time.

The final game of a very long month was back at home with the visit of Forest Green Rovers. Striker Fabio Borini who is on loan from Chelsea gave us the lead after 5 minutes following a push on defender Luke Foster as he jumped from a corner. The referee did not hesitate at pointing to the spot. For the second game in a row Hamshaw was looking dangerous down the right side and set up Borini’s second goal of the game with a low cross into the box that Borini tapped in between two defenders. The second half was comfortable for us and Constable who came on for Borini was unlucky not to add a third when his effort hit the post. It was a good solid performance overall to finish off a very long month.

Blue Square Premier: Current Top Ten

So we find ourselves in fifth place after the first month but there’s not too much between us and «university» rivals Cambridge who lead the table.

September Fixtures:

I didn’t mention this before but for this game I only loaded up English Leagues on a medium database so I would be interested to know what everyone else does?

Thanks for reading this post.