Big Karl had a feeling February was going to be our month and so it's proved. The latest poor performance and result almost guaranteeing that our attentions will inevitably now focus on securing the points we need to remain a League One club.
I couldn't be arsed this evening although I did pick up a 'Unity Protest 2017" leaflet which was being handed out around the ground. By the looks of things the Coalition may have printed several thousand more than necessary. It was another truly dire gate, well less than the laughable official attendance of 9,109. Visiting Oxford fans hearing the crowd could be forgiven for assuming the Valley still holds 66,000 when full. With so many season tickets not bothering nowadays, there has to be a real concern that renewals will plummet once more.
We started with what looked close to a strongest available eleven. Rudd in goal supported by Page, Bauer, Texeira and Solly. Crofts, Forster-Caskey, Byrne, Holmes, Mavididi and Magennis once again ploughing a lone furrow. The appearance of last season Everton loanee Conor McAleny was a worrying portent for season Addicts and it came to pass in the 12th minute when he opened the scoring with an unstoppable 25 yard strike which beat Rudd via a post.
From the CL updates it sounds like Mavididi bust a gut to score and Holmes was doing whatever he could but we had little fluency and aside from hitting the woodwork twice, Oxford had more possession and looked more threatening. Watt was brought on early in the second-half for Forster-Caskey who might still not be 100%.
Poor again at the back and it got worse on 70 minutes with yet another red card as Chris Solly bared his studs after losing the ball in a tackle. It might be an lazy stereotype but what's that? Four sending-offs in half-a-dozen games or less since Lee Bowyer re-entered the building? He was on the touchline tonight, so will have been pleased, no doubt, with full blooded tackling in his own image. Five other home players also earned yellows as if to show solidarity.
Three (3) wins in seventeen (17) for Robinson now and he will be under pressure this evening. His press conference will be interesting. No doubt he'll blame tiredness and injuries, going down to ten men but will he mention our dearth of strikers and schoolboy error in the January window by failing to replace either of the two who were sold off? Better still, when's he going to say he hasn't been backed as he was lead to believe?
The game petered-out with ten man Charlton holding the line, a few home fans scuffling in the north-west corner and a Tweet from Ben Church which just about sums it all up - "lowest league position ever?"
Bury on Saturday for a fiver? The 6 Nations on the box is looking a warm favourite.....
I couldn't be arsed this evening although I did pick up a 'Unity Protest 2017" leaflet which was being handed out around the ground. By the looks of things the Coalition may have printed several thousand more than necessary. It was another truly dire gate, well less than the laughable official attendance of 9,109. Visiting Oxford fans hearing the crowd could be forgiven for assuming the Valley still holds 66,000 when full. With so many season tickets not bothering nowadays, there has to be a real concern that renewals will plummet once more.
We started with what looked close to a strongest available eleven. Rudd in goal supported by Page, Bauer, Texeira and Solly. Crofts, Forster-Caskey, Byrne, Holmes, Mavididi and Magennis once again ploughing a lone furrow. The appearance of last season Everton loanee Conor McAleny was a worrying portent for season Addicts and it came to pass in the 12th minute when he opened the scoring with an unstoppable 25 yard strike which beat Rudd via a post.
From the CL updates it sounds like Mavididi bust a gut to score and Holmes was doing whatever he could but we had little fluency and aside from hitting the woodwork twice, Oxford had more possession and looked more threatening. Watt was brought on early in the second-half for Forster-Caskey who might still not be 100%.
Poor again at the back and it got worse on 70 minutes with yet another red card as Chris Solly bared his studs after losing the ball in a tackle. It might be an lazy stereotype but what's that? Four sending-offs in half-a-dozen games or less since Lee Bowyer re-entered the building? He was on the touchline tonight, so will have been pleased, no doubt, with full blooded tackling in his own image. Five other home players also earned yellows as if to show solidarity.
Three (3) wins in seventeen (17) for Robinson now and he will be under pressure this evening. His press conference will be interesting. No doubt he'll blame tiredness and injuries, going down to ten men but will he mention our dearth of strikers and schoolboy error in the January window by failing to replace either of the two who were sold off? Better still, when's he going to say he hasn't been backed as he was lead to believe?
The game petered-out with ten man Charlton holding the line, a few home fans scuffling in the north-west corner and a Tweet from Ben Church which just about sums it all up - "lowest league position ever?"
Bury on Saturday for a fiver? The 6 Nations on the box is looking a warm favourite.....
My only comment is that Oxford's goal was in my opinion far from unstoppable: Rudd should have got to it with relative ease. He has looked a bit suspect on long range shots in recent game. Our reserve keeper who had such a good run must be biting his tongue.
ReplyDeleteUnknown - clearly I am only going by what I heard. I am sure Dillon Phillips will get his chance as Rudd is very unlikely to be here next season and Phillips will likely be backed by another youngster or temporary cover..
ReplyDeleteShocking last night. Really, really poor first half. Mavadidi the only bright spot for me. Magennis didn't look right, Holmes tries to win games on his own, Byrne looked disinterested after he hit the bar early on. A couple more results like that and one or two teams below us finding a bit of form, and it could be squeaky bum time......
ReplyDelete