FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.43 – PETERBOROUGH AWAY

PETERBOROUGH UNITED 0 OXFORD UNITED 0

This was the best I’ve felt during and after an Oxford game for ages.

I felt a real togetherness amongst our travelling fans – all 847 of them which I think was a decent turnout considering where we are league position wise at present. The “your club needs you” mantra was never more apt. On and off the pitch that is by the way.

There was an atmosphere which was very much helped by the low roof under which we were situated on the side of the pitch. The admission price compared to most we pay for the facilities we got was however excessive. Ancient wooden seats with inadequate leg room. £27 for adults and £22 for Over 65s.

The only one bit of slight dissent I heard was a single plea to “get the ball forward”.  For me that comment showed a complete mis-understanding of what was needed in this game, the opposition that we were playing and the need to set a solid foundation from which to build to see us through to May with enough points to ensure we’ll be playing in L1 next season.

I also detected a togetherness amongst the players representing our football club that has perhaps at times been lacking.

They fought for one another as a group from start to finish. It should be noted that the much maligned Josh Murphy got a sound round of applause when he departed on 66 minutes. Deserved they were too.

We had shape and were defensively solid throughout the team. Not once were we caught out of position with our men ending up the wrong side of the player they were supposed to be marking.

We never ventured far enough forward as a unit to be caught out. When bodies needed to be put on the line with heroic blocks those blocks came. Cameron Brannagan and Ciaron Brown did superbly in this regard. When high balls had to be won they were. If the first effort didn’t get it away the second one always did enough.

The Posh had 66% possession but we had the better chances. If we had a genuine clinical finisher and had been that little bit sharper of thought and mind we could have won this game.

In the first half our repelling of one of the numerous Peterborough attempts to get near our goal saw Brown hit a long lowish ball towards the half way line. It was gathered by Marcus Browne and in the blink of an eye we had 3 v 2 in our favour in their half. Our skilful no.11 immediately went past Frankie Kent leaving it 3 v 1 on the break. He had Yanic Wildschut to his left and Kyle Joseph to his right. He opted to feed the former who just didn’t set himself right to get a telling shot on goal. He should have done much much better. He should have scored. There was nothing wrong with Browne’s quick pass to him.

In the second half a combination of Stuart Findlay and Sam Long saw off yet another Posh foray. Marcus McGuane picked up the loose ball, took it wide wisely and confidently kept possession. He then played a tight pass down the line to Joseph who had cleverly gone very wide to help his team-mate out. With a quick turn and pass which dissected two blue shirts we were once more 3v2 in their half. This time the player with the ball at his feet was Oisin Smith who found Wildschut in space. He fed it through to Browne who finished well but off-side was the correct decision.

My initial thinking was more focused on Browne wondering why he could not have timed his run better but having watched this bit of play back again I now have a different view. Wildschut took four touches. A first time pass which he could easily have made would have sufficed.

Even though fine margins such as these which can mean the difference in the number of points gained are down to individual players, it would be ungracious to focus on anything even bordering on the negative given what we did here.

Make no mistake Peterborough are a good side. Like all teams they have an occasional blip, such as the 3-0 home defeat against Cheltenham on 11 March, but they won the next three games leading up to this one, scoring 10 goals in the process. They will have expected us to have let in at least one. Our previous clean sheet was at Hillsborough 16 games ago.

Of course it would have been much more beneficial to have taken those extra two points but shutting out the opposition in a 0-0 will have given a great psychological boost.

I don’t know a lot about Liam Manning as a coach/manager, largely choosing for anti-franchise reasons to ignore the fact that MK Dons exist. I had him down as very attack minded, liking to play out from the back way more than is healthy. The way he got us playing here and the “thou shalt not pass” mind-set instilled tells me this guy really has something. Give him the tools and we should be okay but to survive this season is still a big ask.

In 2021/22 he got MK into the play-offs with his team scoring a respectable 78 goals, the 4^th best in the league. Joint best on 82 were champions Wigan along with the team Karl Robinson managed at the time. That should not be forgotten. Four goals isn’t a huge difference but defensively it’s a different story. MK were joint 2^nd most parsimonious letting in just 44. That gives me great hope. In contrast we only ranked 12^th having leaked 59. Even in the good times Robbo never really cracked it defensively.

Despite a cracking volley from Oliver Norburn and a Jonson Clarke-Harris overhead kick which went just wide, I didn’t have that real sinking feeling I often get when knowing a goal against is coming other than for a very brief period about five minutes into the second half.

When they came at us down the flanks with two of their players trying to work in unison we had two fronting them up to make it difficult. We were never outnumbered.

The iFollow commentator read exactly how the game went. Oxford United are “disciplined in their approach”. “There are no gaps to play through” and “there’s a sea of yellow to get through”.

Nice to see a bit of possible shithousery too as we set about running the clock down but with still one eye on another of those very rare breakaways. What we did I didn’t think was anywhere near as excessive as many others have brought to the Kassam. I honestly don’t know whether the ball hit a face or it was just a case of buying a bit of time and giving the guys the opportunity to have a drink.

That said, the eight minutes added seemed rather excessive but even then I didn’t feel the panic come upon me that often visits in similar circumstances.

I can’t say that as a group they were the worst officials we’ve come across but the linesman on the far side wasn’t up to the job. Early on he missed an off-side that looked clear by a huge margin then not long after he waved his flag to indicate an infringement. That’s a free-kick to us we reasoned on the evidence even though it was probably 50 or 60 yards away. It was after all very close to said linesman. The replay proved his incompetence. Brown had let the ball roll under his studs putting us under pressure that should not have been there. Even when individuals and the team as a whole are playing well and to plan, mistakes will happen. This is League One.  Findlay reacted well, taking charge of the situation he ran to the ball pointing to where he wanted Brown to go. He played it first as Clarke-Harris came in at pace. It was the Peterborough player who ended up on the floor hence winning the free kick.

When they’re given you just have to defend them and we did.

Hopefully this game will be remembered as the one when we began the process of turning it around.

A memory I wish I could wipe is of their mascot, Peter Burrow and his sponsored bloody carrot. That really is embarrassing in the extreme. I never look at Ollie’s antics so I don’t know if we can match that. If it’s just for the kids fine, but a grown man (or woman?) dressed up as a rabbit acting like a dick in front of adults, no thank you.

Although the home fans might not have felt happy at the time, the point they took pushed them up into the play-off slots on goal-difference as Derby lost for the third game in a row without scoring.

Perhaps they have reason to be less happy about their ownership and their ground. I thought Chairman Darragh MacAnthony was basically the owner and that was it apart from insignificant minority shareholders, although I understood he was looking to sell. That doesn’t seem to be it at all though. There are joint owners along with MacAnthony, Dr Jason Neale and Stewart Thompson. Dr Neale and Thompson appear to have fallen out.

The company that owns Peterborough’s London Road Stadium (I’m not going to call it anything else) is London Road Peterborough Properties Ltd (LRPPL), not the football club itself.

Thompson and his fund OKR Financial Ltd appointed receivers Begbies Traynor on 27 March to take charge of LRPPL following a dispute over unpaid debts. A loan was made in 2021 of £5.2m secured against the stadium, land and adjoining property which is now well overdue.  OKR Financial used to be jointly owned by Thompson and Neale.

I don’t know where that leaves Peterborough United who will have a contract with LRPPL to play at the ground for x number of years.

Football clubs and football grounds hey! Don’t get me started. Politics at national level all the way down to the small parish councils is a dirty, dishonourable game. Downright lies, selfishness and a complete disregard for the common good could come into play. Just saying. There’s shithousery to the fore on and off the field of play which will dictate the fields of play we will be playing on in the short, medium and long term.

By the way I have no interest in “ping pong” – is Boris Johnson involved? Or axe throwing or which end any safe standing is located.

A reminder of when times were even more grim than they are now.