Harrison Bradney fires in a shot (Photo: Steve Daniels)

Like Christmas, it comes around just once a year, which makes it even more gutting when you open your present to find it’s a pair of socks. Bowing out of the FA Cup at the first-round stage is never ideal and it was disappointing to do so to a rather ineffectual Stevenage side. However, there are mitigating circumstances.

Manager Aaron Ramsey has come in for criticism from some quarters for fielding an under-strength side. “Disrespecting the competition”, “Disrespecting the opposition”, “Disrespecting the paying fans” are some of the accusations laid against the man who won the cup three times as a player, including scoring the winning goals in two of the finals.

It is not for me to respond to these allegations on Ramsey’s behalf but my own take is, yes, it possibly is disrespecting the competition; I’ve always bemoaned Premier League sides fielding weaker teams in the FA Cup, which is arguably the greatest domestic cup competition in the world. I’ll come onto the possible rationale in a bit.

I disagree that the selection “disrespected the opposition”. For one thing, I’m sure Stevenage were happy to play against a weaker U’s side to improve their chances of progressing; it’s not like the United squad contains any global superstars that the fans were paying to see. Also, if Stevenage played a bunch of reserves and kids no one would begrudge them or consider it disrespectful to the U’s.

“Disrespecting the paying fans” is a difficult one. On the one hand, people possibly turned up expecting to see a full-strength side, especially given that there’s one of them Trophy games on Tuesday when you’d expect the youngsters to be played, and that the international break will give the senior players a chance to rest and recover (apart from the four called up for international duty). On the other hand, it gives those players on the fringes of the squad the opportunity to play in a more meaningful match against stronger opposition than they would in the Trophy. As a paying fan, I didn’t feel disrespected. In fact, I felt quite excited to see what some of these academy products could do in a first-team game.

Now to those “mitigating circumstances” mentioned above. The obvious one is to give a rest to players that have already had quite a heavy programme of games, given the lack of depth in the squad caused by the transfer embargo. Some players (Michał Helik, Cameron Brannagan) have recently had knocks; others (Siriki Dembélé, Jack Currie, Peter Kioso) have had heavy workloads and could do with the break. The four players called up by their countries (Ciaron Brown and Brodie Spencer for Northern Ireland, and Mark Harris and Kai Andrews for Wales) won’t benefit from the international break. In addition, there has been illness in the camp; indeed, Louie Sibley was due to play but had to withdraw during the warm-up, leaving Tyler Goodrham to come on in his place.

I accept that there are arguments against resting all these players (except possibly Helik and Cap’n Cam) but sometimes the gaffer has to make a judgement call and I’m not in a position to argue with Azza-Razza about his managerial credentials. Some people claim that he got this call wrong, and the fact the side lost could be evidence of that, but in the bigger picture, this may well prove to be a blessing in disguise. No one knows yet.

One huge positive to the selection was seeing a number of academy players getting the call to represent the club in a senior fixture. Aaron Lacey was recalled from his loan at Chesham United to make his Oxford debut alongside James Golding in the centre of defence; Harrison Bradney came into midfield for his second appearance following his scoring cameo at Exeter in the Trophy; Leo Snowden made his first start for the club; Gatlin O’Donkor was awarded a rare start. In addition, we got to see the lesser-spotted Greg Leigh at left-back and Sam Long on the opposite side of the defence.

On top of that, Jack Lee, Josh Holton and Maeson Vaughan all came off the bench for their competitive debuts, while Ruben Roosken was able to play his first minutes of the season following his pre-season injury against Crawley Town. All of which bodes well for the future and, as Raz said, they wouldn’t have been selected if he didn’t think they could do a job, and he should know.

Jack Lee (Photo: Steve Daniels)

As it happens, the selection was almost vindicated. After the side went down to a fourth-minute goal from the Rob Dickie-esque Carl Piergianni, the boys rarely looked second best to a Stevenage side that had made just one change to the team that had won a point at Leicester City the previous weekend. Indeed, had GOD’s second-half header been a few inches wider of goalkeeper Tommy Setford, on loan to Boro from Arsenal, the score would have been levelled and, with United having the momentum at that stage, who knows what could have happened.

As it was, the defeat will be ammunition to those who feel the team selection was incorrect, and maybe if Currie had played instead of a clearly rusty Gregly, and PK was at right back with Longy in the centre, and Dems was on the left wing, the side would have won. Or maybe not. One of the beautiful things about football is its ability to throw up results that you just wouldn’t expect, such as Wimborne Town beating Roosken-crockers Crawley 2-0 on Sunday.

Maeson Vaughan (Photo: Steve Daniels)

Personally, I’m a big fan of an FA Cup run and have great memories of cup games in both the recent and not-so-recent past. Whoever was there will never forget Tariqe Fosu and Shandon Baptiste starring as United put four without reply past West Ham, or a fine 3-0 win over Newcastle United at the Kas. I was also there when United were eliminate by Marlow and, a few years prior, by Derek Dougan’s Kettering Town at the Manor.

Even the bad memories have their place in a football supporter’s story, although the Stevenage defeat won’t last that long in the collective consciousness. However, for those academy players making their debuts or first starts, this is a game that, despite the result, they will never forget.

For the rest of us, there’s a break before proper football returns to the city, after which normal service will be resumed with the visit of Wycombe Wanderers in the Not-a-derby Derby.

On Sunday, Oxford United Women travelled to Fratton Park to take on third-placed Portsmouth in the WNL Southern Premier. Left-back Maddie Brant gave United the lead after just 30 seconds, but Pompey turned it around to take a 2-1 half-time lead. With ten minutes to go Holly Manders headed home Sophie Quirk’s cross to make the final score 2-2 and leave the U’s still undefeated this season.

Second-placed Fulham beat Lewes 4-0 to close the gap on top-of-the-table United to just two points, with the Cottagers having a game in hand. Oxford are in WFA Cup action this Sunday, travelling to South Wales to take on Gwalia United, before welcoming Fulham to the MGroup Stadium on Sunday 22nd November in what is the biggest game of the season so far. It’s a game that the word ‘unmissable’ was invented for.

UTFO