Stevenage F.C 0 Oxford United F.C 2

Antipasto – Before the meal

Anti-Nowhere League – ‘80’s English hardcore punk band

Anti-Maud – Your Mum’s older sister

Anti-Football – Stevenage F.C

Right, now I’ve got that sorted, on to Saturday and what a satisfying day it was in so many ways. A day I’ve taken much comfort from.

Our Mutual Friend is a contender for away pub of the season and this year our visit coincided with one of their quarterly beer festivals which meant that there was even more real ale and traditional cider available than usual. It is a perfect pre-match venue to meet up with fellow travellers, pre-arranged or not. Whenever we’re in town there always seem to be more Yellows than Reds in this pub.

On the journey to Hertfordshire, with the sleety snow persistently dropping from the sky, the opinion was that this was going to be a game suited to Andy Whing.

But would Mapp pick him? During his tenure to date he has made many changes but has basically stuck to HIS footballing principles and all but ignored fashioning the team with due regard to the opposition and the conditions.

That he started with Whingy and that our battling midfielder delivered what was required was possibly a turning point. Another turning, which possibly started last week, was that there was much less playing the ball short and to nowhere deep in our own half. In fact I can only recall one instance of the habits I want binned. In the first half we had a free kick just inside our own half. It went square, square again and to a player who was quickly marked, then backwards we went to Ryan Clarke whose attempted clearance shanked off at right angles for a Stevenage throw. But that’s really the only genuine complaint I’ve got about our performance.

As you’d expect they came at us from the start – it’s a Graham Westley side. This is his third spell in charge and by some way his least successful but they still came into this one seven unbeaten at the Lamex and just outside the play-off places. I wouldn’t call them thugs but there is a lot of niggle about them. A foot left in here and a bit late there; tiny reducers; going down way too easily. There was one that won them a free-kick just outside the penalty area that was embarrassing. Justice was done when the ball sailed into the stand housing the Oxford fans. Referees are so easily conned and Tim Robinson was no different.

We should really let this drinks break thing go, but I can’t. Everyone knows that on the half hour mark a Stevenage player will go down with the objective being to stop play. So why does the referee of the day, whoever that may be, let it happen? He should just get on with the game or even better make the so called injured party leave the field of play for treatment without allowing any bottles to be handed out. It is the referee who should manage the match not a manager or coach on the touchline.

At half time someone commented, “Awful game, awful pitch, awful referee”. I could see where they were coming from but I wasn’t quite so sure about the awful game bit. Obviously there had not been any pretty football but I’d taken great comfort from the fact that we’d competed as a proper scrapping, well organised, hard working League Two side. At last. Has the penny now dropped? Additionally with each team kicking towards their fans in the second session I thought we could be the more influential. The Boro supporters on the North Terrace were hardly going to suck the ball into the net.

Every player played their part in this victory and to have come away with not only the three points but a clean sheet too was thoroughly deserved.

The defensive frailty had disappeared and we no longer looked vulnerable down the flanks. That has to be down in no small measure to Joe Skarz and Richard Brindley, our two new full-backs. They slotted in seamlessly and had a quiet efficiency about them, with quality too. Very good for this level I’d say and that’s backed up by a bit of research. Scarz has played 130 games for the Shakers and my Bury supporting mate told me, “He’ll be a decent signing. He’s Mr Dependable, rarely gets injured. I was surprised he made it to Championship level as didn’t think he was that good, but a good acquisition for League 2.” Feedback from a Rotherham contact is even brighter. He feels Skarz is good enough to play for a team sitting just above the relegation zone of the Championship but can see why he has been released. That’s because Steve Evans is now going about upping standards a bit to get Rotherham to the next level, which is making the Millers into an established mid-table Championship team, and Skarz isn’t quite that good.

I’ve not asked similar questions about Brindley but liked what I saw.

Whilst on the subject of the defence, it’s time to mention Ryan Clarke and Jake Wright. Two tremendous servants who I think have recently come in for some stick that is way over the top and totally unjustified. Yes, they’ve not quite been on top form but all some people seem to have focussed on are a couple of recent mistakes choosing to ignore all the sterling efforts and quality performances they’ve put in over the years. How does the saying go? “Class is permanent, form is temporary”. (Nearly true – injury and age have a say too).

I hope the detractors are man enough to acknowledge that both our captain and keeper had very good games. Within the first fifteen minutes or so Wright had won an aerial duel, made a telling block and an interception and brought the ball out of defence before passing accurately to a team mate. Clarke made a couple of very good saves and punched effectively when required. I can’t remember him making a mistake but there are those who want him to come off his line more to catch everything that comes into the box. If he comes too far and misses the ball he’ll be criticised. The defence is a unit and there are others there doing a job too. There was no luck in the way we kept that clean sheet.

Now it’s my turn to be man enough – I’ll turn to Callum O’Dowda. I’d previously commented that he wasn’t the answer and although I hoped I was wrong I couldn’t see that he was going to have a lengthy career in the Football League. There were little bits here and there I’d said but that’s not enough. At Stevenage I thought he was a contender for man of the match. He seems to have muscled up a bit and even when kicked did not hide. I grinned with satisfaction when he won / bought (take your pick) a free kick on 59 minutes. Two can play at that game Mr Westley; only we did it with more style. The grin became a wide smile a few seconds later as Johnny Mullins made a slight adjustment to send Michael Collins’ free kick into the top corner of the net with a firm header giving Chris Day no chance. JM has done this before and here’s to him doing it some more.

Nine minutes later we had a second. Brindley had ventured up field and from his pass Collins (him again) put a high cross into the box and Patrick Hoban’s header looked a goal all the way only for Day’s reactions to temporarily win the day. It was then down to the outfield players and it was O’Dowda who anticipated just that little bit quicker than the defenders to get the ball into the net from an awkwardly tight angle via one bounce off the turf.

There was still over 20 minutes to go but such was our solidity that we were never in need of willing the final whistle upon us.

So there you have it, the view of a biased Oxford Utd fan: Anti-Football 0 Football 2.

Well done to the boys in yellow and Michael Appleton too. Credit where it’s due. Some positivity from me for a change but I hate to think what the mood would have been if we had lost, particularly with a very difficult home game next Saturday. If we‘d lost we would now be just two points off a relegation spot. There’s still a huge amount of work to do as all the teams at the bottom scrabble to get away from the trap door. Four teams below us also won and Pompey picked up a point at Wycombe who went into this set of fixtures in top position.