Town’s visits to the Kassam Stadium have often been quite fruitful: remember when Nigel Jemson scored the only goal of the match to send the home supporters into apoplexy, or topping off the festive holiday with a two-goal victory on Salop’s last Boxing Day in League Two. By contrast, most of the defeats there have been highly miserable encounters. In a way that reflects Oxford United’s rather erratic character, swinging between being highly formidable to intensely brittle opponents.
Oxford fan’s self-perception of their club being of at least Championship quality jars awkwardly with a reality that has seen the club slumming it in League Two and the National League in the last few years. The Kassam was planned as a stadium that would grace the upper divisions, but the development process was tortuous and financial realities meant that when it was opened there were stands on only three sides. Expansion blueprints were said to be ready and available for when the club’s fortunes recovered, but the Kassam now is almost entirely what it was when the club moved there two decades ago, with an additional twenty or so years of wear and tear.
Last season the U’s were cash rich relegation candidates; despite having a budget that most League One managers only dream of, the club were only safe from the drop minutes from the end of the season. This time round they have started the season like millionaires, winning seven and losing two of their first nine matches. The Kassam is not currently a place that a club with a wage bill a few million pounds smaller can go expecting easy points.
Although Matt Taylor had been lifted by Salop’s performance against Charlton at the weekend, his starting eleven showed four changes: Fleming, Mata, Perry and Udoh dropped down to the bench to be replaced by Anderson, Bennett, Bowman and Phillips. Packing the team with central defenders hinted at an intention to frustrate the hosts. After the match Taylor indicated that it was more a case of player management; a rotation to keep players fresh in a double fixture week. The changes seemed to be a mixture of the two, although some Salop fans might wonder that it was a selection dictated more by fitness concerns than tactics.
BBC Sport’s pre-match team formation chart suggest an interesting 3-1-4-2 with Flanagan playing in front of the other three centre backs. When the game kicked off it became apparent that Kenneh was positioned as a defensive midfield in front of the three centre backs and Anderson was being tried out as a wing back. With the accompaniment of expectant chants from the Oxford fans in the East Stand, the game opened with the hosts looking patient and the visitors having a pragmatic intent that saw them have first real sight at goal. From outside the box Bayliss had a shot on target that did not inconvenience the keeper overly much. Unfortunately for Salop, a minute later when Marosi was tested with an undemanding cross he could only get his fingertips to the ball as it passed over him and fell nicely for Fin Stevens to volley it straight into the roof of the net. Salop were up against it with less than twenty minutes on the clock.
In Town’s last away match against Leyton Orient, the home team were content to frustrate the opposition once they had taken the lead. In contrast Oxford showed their quality by retaining possession and patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike. When the U’s sent the ball direct Town’s defence was comfortable; it was the host’s fluent passing football that was most testing. Still, Salop were able to get to the break only one goal down.
The score remained at 1-0 as the sixty-minute mark approached. Activity in the Town technical area suggested a multiple substitution was imminent. Was this the plan all along: bring on some attackers with fresh legs to go on the offensive for the last half hour. If this was the intention, Town’s fight back was over before it had begun. Already on a yellow card, makeshift wing back Joe Anderson marked harvest festival time by scything down Fin Stevens for the second time in the match. It was a stupid challenge; for a player already on a yellow it was an idiotic one. Seconds before his likely substitution Anderson received another flash of yellow and the flash of red that banished him to the dressing room. Down to ten men Town immediately conceded a goal from the free kick that had resulted from Anderson’s foul. The match was effectively settled.
Taylor went ahead with a quadruple substitution: Udoh for Winchester; Perry for Bowman; Fleming for Phillips; Mata for Bennett. Town responded to adversity with spirt, enjoying some constructive possession but without suggesting an end to their five-week goal drought was in sight. As the final insult Marosi played the ball out of his area, declined several chances to put the ball into touch, lost possession and could only watch as the ball was lobbed into an open goal. Marko must be relieved that those ‘gaffs and goals’ videos are a thing of the past. As Dad would say: “Even Bradman scored a duck.”
In a measured post-match Matty Taylor could not hide his disappointment: bad individual errors had cost us three goals. This was an echo of Martin Berry’s parting words to me about Town managing to lose 3-0 without their opponents having to go to the bother of creating a real chance themselves. That is not to disrespect Oxford; on this performance they are a good side, well capable of shifting up the gears when required. At the end of the match the travelling Salop supporters were more inclined to sympathetic applause than boos. We had been given a glimpse of how the other half lives; how financial resources, well used, can create a team that can make following football a real pleasure.
Enjoyed this except this line: "Oxford fan’s self-perception of their club being of at least Championship quality"
Who on earth have you been speaking to to think that??