FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.44 – SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY AT HOME

OXFORD UNITED 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1

Before many of our matches I have a feel for how it is going to go based on the form and style of play of each team. For this though I didn’t have a clue and even after the event I’m not sure whether it was a good performance or not or whether it was a point well won or two others spurned.

What I will say is that our first half showing was poor and at the final whistle my initial assessment was that neither team was much cop. On further reflection though I’ve now got this very much down as a very steady step in the right direction.

This was Liam Manning’s first home game in charge. His actual first game at Morecambe was all about stopping the rot. His second, at Peterborough, was about doing whatever was necessary to get something against an in form side strongly pushing for the play-offs.

On home territory expectations from many fans are likely rather different. Wednesday may have started the day top of the table but their form has dipped of late. They’d not won in the previous five before this and had picked up just three points from those games. Bottom club Forest Green Rovers had beaten them in that run.

Knowing it was a big game against a big team, Bank Holiday and the sun was shining we left earlier than usual to get a decent parking slot on Grenoble Road. Oh for the day when there’s a choice of convenient public transport to get me to the home of my football club. Buses from Bicester to Kidlington every quarter of an hour. Trains to Oxford Parkway twice an hour. Let’s go green.

I ended up parking closer to the ground than expected so had well over an hour to have a wander around the Kassam to take in the atmosphere. In doing so it struck me that I had chats of varying lengths with about a dozen people. Many of them I probably would never have met if it had not been for OUFC.  Friendships formed. Social needs met. Support given. A common cause. An absolute prize community asset. This has to be protected and nurtured.

Topics of conversation along with the obvious, the form of Oxford United, how the game would go and the politics of the Triangle, included “where have all those years gone?”, health, local politics (believe it or not somewhere else other than Kidlington) and walking football.

I also had a bit of banter with a couple of Wednesdayites. One wearing his club shirt who was possibly trying to lose a bit of weight had decide to walk the long way round to the away end as he does “every time he comes here.”  They stopped to admire a Porsche or Ferrrari parked in the VIP spaces. Would have cost a lot in petrol to have come down from Sheffield in that I said and we were away.  They asked why the ground only had three sides. I gave them the quickest potted history possible explaining the initial plan had been four sides with corners filled in too giving a capacity of over 20k. They thought that what we did have here though was fine and I don’t think they were just being kind. “You’re getting a new ground though aren’t you?” one of them said. I just replied that it was not quite that simple and left it at that as it was time to go in. We wished each other all the best, not for anything in particular and certainly not for the rest of the day, but as you do. It was one of those fleeting insignificant encounters that mean nothing yet added together they mean everything. That’s football for you.

There was a proper football feel inside the three-sider. Genuine passion from both sets of fans. Supportive noise from both sets of fans. There was no nastiness in the air that I could detect. Obviously when there is an event with a crowd of this size in attendance, be it football, a protest march, an outdoor concert or a carnival it is sensible to have a police presence but the horses and numbers here was a headscratcher. If I was a cynic I might ponder on “Bank Holiday overtime” but as I’m not I won’t. There must be a hell of a lot of intelligence that the taxpayers never get a sniff of.  So this is where the Bobbies on the beat have gone. I remember when blah …..

We began badly. Very jittery but on closer inspection perhaps some of the blame on Simon Eastwood for putting his goal at immediate risk is not quite as blatant as first thought. With not even a minute gone Easty swung at a back pass from Marcus McGuane, a player who really grew into the game as it progressed. Instead of making its way towards and beyond the half way line the ball went vertically and back down again to Lee Gregory. Less than two minutes later we were at it again. Another back pass, this time from Sam Long and from not so far out. Our keeper tried to control the ball but got it all wrong with the touch of someone wearing their boots on the wrong feet. This one he could have put his foot through, it had come to him on the bounce. Perhaps he was wary after the first one though which took a horrendous bobble just as it was reaching him.

I don’t think our pitch is in a very good state at all at the moment. We’ve seen it before, the ball not running true across the surface.  It keeps popping up to an unpredictable degree. It causes mistakes and is particularly bad in front of the East stand.

We thankfully got away with both.

Soon after that I was screaming at Josh Murphy. He’d done well to beat a man and drive forward but ended up being crowded out when an overlapping Long should have been played in. Probably a bit harsh with that pass only being on for a split second but we’ve seen this sort of play time and again from Oxford players this season. It really pisses me off. At half time I wanted him and Yanic Wildschut off. (I’d have brought on Oisin Smyth and Tyler Goodrham). Wildschut had been dreadful. No touch, no impact. We occasionally see glimpses but he is a shadow of the man who was allegedly the best player in the division when he was at Wigan.

By half-time I was in downbeat mode. I’d not liked what I’d seen. Some of it had looked like the last few months of the Robinson era. I totally understand the need to be solid and not over commit even at home but occasionally, come on. When the opportunity is there go for it.  Long was taking a throw  as soon as the ball was in his hands Kyle Joseph had spotted an opportunity and was away sprinting forward into space. Longie wasn’t scanning what was on and what wasn’t. He just took the looking backwards, throwing backwards and keeping the ball option. Meaning we were more likely to be playing it back to Easty than giving David Stockdale, in the Wednesday goal, anything to think about.

Our right-back wasn’t having the best of games and that’s putting it mildly. More of him later.

The other full-back in yellow was getting a lot of the ball. At times when he brought it forward because there were very few options, either because we were closed down well or his colleagues lacked the confidence to want it, he had to keep going. On one such occasion he was deliberately fouled, a tactic the visitors employed quite frequently early on as they set about being the dominant force. From the resultant free-kick an Elliott Moore header forced Stockdale to make a good save.

Other than that I can’t recall us threatening much at all. We had a distinct lack of bodies in central midfield which seemed to be a massive no-go area for Oxford players. The gap between those at the back to those in the forward line meant we never got a grip on the game.

For all this though Wednesday never had us wobbling on the ropes about to collapse and it took a moment of pure class from Barry Bannan to give the visitors the lead. He’s the highest paid player in L1 and probably the best. It came as a bit of a shock to me that he’s only scored 27 league goals for his team in 313 starts he’s made in the seven and a half years he’s been there. They were attacking down our left on the corner of the penalty area but we were facing them up. From 25 to 30 yards away Bannan reasoned, quite correctly, that his team mates didn’t have the necessary skills to do damage from there so he ran towards the ball and took charge. He jinked inside Wildschut with a couple of touches then bent in the most delicious of goals.

Bannan is almost always the standout player when we face the Owls. A level above, no question. The only player in our ranks on the day you could put an argument forward to say the same about would be Marcus Browne. At times his level of skill appears to be rather more than that required to be a competent L1 player. If only we could see more of it and he had been part of a properly constructed team that had clicked all season. Then we’d likely be looking at the other end of the table not fearing a return to L2.

Manning is a much more measured and quieter character than our previous head coach. I liked what I heard in his post-match interview. Probably not the type to be given a nickname. Manno just doesn’t sound right. So I’ll keep referring to him by his surname as any journalist is supposed to after an initial mention of his Christian name. (Not that I’m claiming to be a proper journalist).

He made one change at half-time. Wildschut didn’t return. His replacement was Gatlin O’Donkor. I’d have given Murphy the hook before YW but there was little in it. Manning knows what he’s doing though.

We now looked a much better outfit. O’Donkor might not be the tallest of central attackers but he does have some physical presence and doesn’t have to do a lot to be a bit of a nuisance. That had been lacking and Kyle Joseph became much more effective pushed out wide right. He’s a prime example of a player who will run and run and run until the final whistle. He was excellent from here on in.

What really impressed me about the second 45 minutes was that the players who had been pretty ropey in part one stuck to the task and came out the other side, all contributing to getting back in the game and taking a precious point. I’m particularly thinking Long and Eastwood here.

I love Long’s work ethic and never say die attitude and as for Easty, well he made two incredible saves which had every bit as much value as scoring a goal. The commentators on the iFollow full match replay available on the OUFC site were for some reason those from Radio Sheffield. They’d quickly honed in on our custodian’s shakiness. It wasn’t only the mis-kicking of back passes. When a ball was played low across our six yard box Eastwood came out a bit, didn’t gather it and then chased it getting out of position. “He looks like he couldn’t keep bees let alone anything else at the moment,” they told us. I did note in this incident that the delivery of that ball had gone past Wildschut as if he wasn’t there.

We restarted the encounter but within a matter of seconds it was Wednesday who nearly doubled their lead. Stuart Findlay who for the most part had a sound game, let Malik Wilkes get past him. Instead of just putting his foot through the ball our number four turned his body and appeared to try and use his wrong foot probably thinking he could get the ball under control and keep possession. Easty went down to his right conceding a corner. At the time there were a few sat near me who thought it was going wide. I wasn’t sure but was of the mind: if in doubt keep it out. Having seen the replay I reckon it was quite likely just sneaking in. That save told of Eastwood’s experience. He’d not let what had gone before destroy his game.

The second save was even better. Mallik Wilks got his head onto a delicious ball in from Bannan. Who else? Being on the bounce will have made it no easier but Easty got it round his left hand post with the ball almost behind him.

Although we’d improved, Wednesday were still getting these chances. Lee Gregory put one wide but if he’d not slipped it would likely have been on target.

We however were becoming much more of a threat, mostly through sheer hard work but our play wasn’t without some style.

A long ball from Cameron Brannagan found Joseph who ploughed inside and hit a shot which Stockdale couldn’t gather, the ball cannoning off his chest. As Browne took the most direct route to get on the end of it he was brought down by Akin Famewo who was trying to get to his feet. I’d probably have been aggrieved if it had been the other way round but can see why it was given. Perhaps Famewo didn’t know Browne was there. Perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing. For me the slow motion replay shows him moving his body before attempting to rise in such a way as to block Browne.

If that was not a penalty, which it was, the one not given earlier from a corner when Findlay was impeded 100% should have been. Even the northern commentators said so. I don’t care what sex a referee is or whether they’re a “prefer not to say” they all deserve the same treatment from the terraces. That’s equality. Rebecca Welch got that totally wrong but she was no better or no worse than most we have to endure.

One minute and 50 seconds after the spot kick was awarded Brannagan stepped up and confidently despatched it into the net.

There was now a genuine feeling we could go on and win the game. A couple of minutes after the equaliser Elliott Moore powered a header at goal from a Browne free-kick. The sharpest of reactions from Stockdale tipped the ball over. We’re beginning to look very dangerous from set pieces. Who needs Mous to be coaching what we do when we’ve got free-kicks and corners?

That was the last we saw of our captain. Rightly so with a clash of heads and a bit of grogginess evident. Concussion protocols are there for a reason.

This was a worry. His replacement: Negru. Who? Stephan Negru, no not helping much. Oh the lad we signed in January from Ireland. One for the future.

I needn’t have worried. He looked a natural. Dominant in the air and when he got the ball away it wasn’t just head and hope.  A real positive for me.

Neither team did enough in the remainder of the game to justify all three points.

Brandon Fleming, a 78^th minute substitute for Murphy, had a good run after winning the ball but his attempted pass to O’Donkor was cut out by Stockdale. Fleming’s most telling contribution though was a crucial block in the final seconds. It really is quite comforting to know that even though we’ve got loads of players out injured we’ve still got the likes of him who can come in and do things like that.

Our only other late chance was when O’Donkor got through but cool finishing isn’t yet his game.

Glass half full – we’re unbeaten under Manning. Glass half empty – we’ve not won under Manning.

Whilst results are everything now, performances do give a clue as to the results to come. The spirit and second half improvement do give cause for optimism.

If any visiting fan thought their side should have won it I’d have to disagree on what I witnessed. The stats don’t show them being the dominant force either, not even those at half time.

At the break we’d had 61% possession and two of our three shots on target. Wednesday had got all but one of their six shots on target.

By the end of the game we were still on 60% possession and had seven of our 14 shots on target. The visitors only managed another five shots and only two of those were on target.

The league table does not make for pleasant reading although we are still above the dreaded bottom four by a point. It couldn’t be more obvious than to say we need a win. It’s been such a long time. On Easter Monday we go to Burslem where Port Vale are off form. They’re 17^th and have taken just two points from their last five games. A win for us there would put us just three points behind them with a game in hand and a superior goal difference.

I’m rather looking forward to it. I have more belief than I’ve had for quite some time.