Oxford United:September 2009

We started off September with a trip to Gravesend to play Ebssfleet. Due to fatigue I was forced to rotate three of the back four players with the exception of Canadian Ross Smith. I was pleased with these changes as the defence coped very well with the early pressure and some long balls clearance set up a couple of early chances for Paterson. It was however Hamshaw who again was instrumental in breaking the deadlock with a lovely little run that culminated in a delicate through ball to Matt Green to score his first goal of the season. That seemed to knock the wind out of Ebssfleet’s sails and we added a second just on the stroke of half time with Hamshaw and Chanot linking together well down the right that eventually allowed Chanot to cross on the overlap and found the head of Paterson to make it 2-0. The second half started badly with two poorly timed tackles from skipper Dannie Bulman who was shown the red card so I had to pull off Matt Green and play alone striker. We defended admirably and held on to gain all three points.

Our next game was also away across the border into Wales to play Wrexham. The only changes I made were Simon Clist in for the suspended Bulman and Borini up front along side Paterson. We forced Wrexham back right from the outset and gave them very little space to move the ball around with Clist and Plessis breaking everything up in midfield. It was Plessis who came closest to giving us the lead hitting the woodwork after 20 minutes however by the interval the game remained scoreless despite all our attacking moves. Plessis would repeat his first half attempt just on the hour and it seemed like luck was not going away. Hamshaw came off for youngster Clarke who made an immediate impact by finding Paterson unmarked and he placed one home to break the deadlock to give us another win to make three in a row.

Luton Town was our next opponents and we were to face then at the Kassam Stadium. We made a good solid start keeping the ball mostly in the Luton half with skipper Dannie Bulman setting up two early chances for Paterson. The breakthrough can after 25 minutes with left back Carruthers and left winger Cook working well together down that flank which led to a low cross that was driven in by Matt Green. Mathew Paterson made it 2-0 eight minutes later on a counter attack that saw Green slide the ball through to Paterson who unleashed a shot from 25 yards that flew into the roof of the net. The home fans went wild. Following the break Luton came on more strongly and I was forced to change tactics after they pulled one back though defender Crieghton was unlucky with a header going narrowly wide to make it 3-1. We were all happy however with the final result.

We stayed at home for the next game which was just three days later against Eastbourne. I had to change the entire team from the previous game due to fitness and so as the game started they looked a nervy bunch of players. Eastbourne made the early running and we cleared an early attempt off the line and another from them hit the post. We began to settle and striker James Constable put us ahead after 20 minutes getting his first of the season. Right midfielder Damian Batt then scored two in the space of 12 minutes, the first on a solo effort down the right flank and the second off a poor clearance by the Eastbourne goalkeeper for an easy tap in. The visitors had nothing to offer in the second half and Fabio Borini completed the rout with a shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area to make it 4-0.

Next up was a trip to Mansfield and again I had to make some big changes to the starting eleven as only a few days had passed since the Eastbourne game. Mansfield attacked right from the start and gave us all kinds of trouble in the opening twenty minutes forcing me to change from attacking to a more controlled game. Both my central midfielders were not have a good game  which was keeping us on the back foot but eventually we caught Mansfield on the break with Green and Paterson playing a brilliant one-two for Paterson to neatly strike home for the lead. Mansfield came out just as strongly following the interval and after I made all my substitutions Simon Clist was injured and we had to play the final few minutes with ten men. Mansfield took advantage of this and forced an equalizer in injury time though for their efforts they did deserve a point

Following the Mansfield game we had a long journey to the North East of England to play Gateshead who looked like they would be a difficult opponent. We struggle right from the outset and really found it hard to make any inroads into the final third. Gateshead on the other hand were moving the ball around nicely and eventually took the lead in the 38^th minute. Although I tried to get the team motivated it was a lack luster second half performance and we were lucky not to concede any more goals.

We were back home then for the final game of the month which makes 14 played already, almost a third of the season over an it’s not even October yet. We started out where we left off against Gateshead but Crawley took the lead after 5 minutes through an unusual game of head tennis that unfortunately went into our net. We the laid siege to their goal for the next 20 minutes but came away with nothing and the despondency started to creep in and sure enough I wasn’t able to get the boys rallied again and so we ended the month with a dismal 1-0 loss which is our second in a row. The chances up front have seem to dried up as well after such a good start to the month too.

September Results at a glance..

Blue Square Premier: Current Top Ten

So were 5 points off the pace at the end of the month which is a little disappointing to say the least especially as I thought we were about to embark on a long unbeaten run. The late goal in by Mansfield seems to have changed things? Hopefully things will improve in October