BOXING DAY: SHREWSBURY

Not many years ago the crowd for a home Boxing Day fixture would have been approx. 10,000. In 2014 just 7,502 came through the turnstiles and of those only 6,878 were not Shrewsbury supporters.

I was expecting more but am not that surprised. For the most part we’ve been poor this season. We’ve rarely played well even in patches and other than the League Cup games I am really struggling to think of a game where we’ve played well from start to finish.

And in this fixture we were poor in the first half and poor in the second half. (NB: I’ve used the word poor here a lot but it could be substituted for other expressions a lot more damning.)

I first noticed people leaving at 4:30 but one caller to Radio Oxford said that they left at half time. I’ve subsequently heard that others departed having only seen half of the match. It’s hardly surprising as we were that bad.

In the last FV I wrote, “I always expect the home side to take the onus from the off” which isn’t quite right really. Although I would like to see Oxford United do so, I have not the slightest expectation that this is what will happen.

And so it proved. The first 10 minutes or so were fairly even and within that spell we had one decent move but it soon became crystal clear which was the better team and it wasn’t us. It didn’t take too much longer to see how large the gap was between them and us. Bloody massive.

We weren’t even any good at playing our usual aimless football. By half time I think we’d had one shot on goal. It was Danny Hylton, unsurprisingly. The Shrews had scored two. Being able to dig deep and come up with the goods from two down is not in our DNA. Some wag sat near me suggested that DNA stands for “Do Not Attack”. (No not that sort of WAG)

We are so lacking in the basics it is scary. Not for the first time I’m obliged to say that the opposition closed us down quickly. Once they do that we are without hope because we do everything at a pace that is slower than your average team. We of course don’t harry the opposition in similar fashion. Indeed we didn’t bother to mark the opposition, particularly in the middle of the park where they were free to roam and do their stuff in largely untroubled fashion. Mobility in midfield is something that we never seem to have.

A very telling comment from a first timer – “They seem to be trying harder than Oxford”. And I challenge anyone to prove to me that it wasn’t so. Even the most rose tinted optimists can’t put a positive spin of any value on this one can they?

I’ve argued for a while now that we’ve got the players but not the team. And if I’ve not said it before (and I may well have) I’ll say it now, I don’t believe we’ve got the manager.

There must come a point when the players realise they’re being told to do things that are not suited to League Two (or any League come to that, but that’s another debate) and I doubt whether many if any would say they have faith in their boss if asked the question off the record. No wonder their form is suffering.

Or perhaps it is that they have not got what it takes. On that showing the only ones I would be genuinely disappointed to see left out of the next game would be Ryan Clarke, Jake Wright, THD (who is just a loanee) and Hylton. But who is there to come in?

Time to give a rundown on a few of the players.

I’d be okay with Joe Riley staying but I don’t think him being here right now is doing his career any favours. It was a pity he got injured. I liked the way he was getting frustrated with the garbage that was going on around him. At one stage in the first half I complemented Wes Burns for a bit of effort in the centre forward position only to have it pointed out to me that it was Riley. He wanted to get something happening and I can’t blame him. He was also seen waving his arms at the East Stand to try and get them going. Fair play, Joe.

As for Jon Meades, are we ever going to see enough of the guy to be able to make a judgement whether he is fit to wear the yellow shirt? He must be one of the unluckiest footballers around.

In the past I’ve sung Andy Whing’s praises and have explained why I think he brings value to the team. I’ve also said that his effectiveness becomes almost zilch when a fast moving game takes place around him. And that is what happened. He had an absolute shocker with Christmas bells on. His passes were as likely to end up out of play as find a colleague, his headers skewed off at angles that defied the laws of physics and in conditions that should have suited him I don’t recall a crunching tackle being landed.

I thought that Michael Collins was a good footballer when I first saw him, but now I’m beginning to wonder. Does he know his role in the team because I don’t think the fans do? But perhaps again the blame should lie with his manager and coaching staff. It was of course MC who gave the ball away for the Shrews first.

Danny Rose, much as I admire him, never did things as quickly as the opposition.

As for Alfie Potter’s performance, it was as bad as Whing’s. They obviously don’t deliberately perform badly but Alfie just has not got it any more. It’s so sad to watch. Did he beat one player? I can’t recall that he did. I do recall him running merrily along but omitting to take the ball with him.

I didn’t notice much of Burns up front but as we’re not set up in any way shape or form to create chances that’s no surprise. There was one occasion in the second half when he got the ball just inside the Shrewsbury half and headed for goal. It was doomed to failure because he was out numbered three to one. And sure enough he was dispossessed with ease but we were that bad I quite liked this. Normally, I would not have been happy with such behaviour but it did suggest that we had a player who might have remembered where the goal was after all. Not that we got anywhere near it most of the time in the second period.

The excuses, and I’m bloody sick of them, this time were that we came up against a good team and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up. Last week we came up against a bad team and couldn’t beat them either.

MApp said that you learn more in defeat than victory. He should be a f*****g genius by now. Just take a look at his managerial record wherever he’s been.

We now have to be one of the biggest spending teams in League Two, but look where we are. The money – which worryingly seems to be growing on trees – is being frittered away. A manager who knows his way round this league would be getting better value from it surely.

27 DECEMBER: A DAY TO GET OVER IT?

I’m not sure I can; even if we turn into Barca and play the Pilgrims off the pitch tomorrow. It could happen. After all we played quite possibly our best game last season at Home Park. But every other game under Gary Waddock was a feeble effort. There just isn’t the steel running through our football club that brings success, the steel that churns the wins out on a consistent basis. And until we get that we are not going to progress.
Tickets for tomorrow were of course purchased before kick off yesterday.

28 DECEMBER: PLYMOUTH

As has become the norm before a match at Argyle, it was a visit to the Fan Fest that provided our entertainment. I’ve sung its praises before and will do so again. If only we had something similar and a ditty to rival their Janners song. It’s still just a fiver for a drink, pasty and the entertainment.

It was packed and the “Exeter is full of s**t, s**t, and more s**t” was joined in with gusto by most in the tent. To make us feel at home we had a chorus where their Devonian rivals’ name was replaced with S*****n. Nice touch.

They’re all so friendly in there. Via a mutual Torquay supporting mate, Dave, who also attended the game, we’ve got to know Wozzer, one of the organisers and he had kindly reserved Fan Fest tickets for us.

As I left the crowded bar at one point I overheard a guy say, “I once went to Wembley and saw a one armed footballer”. I couldn’t help but butt in, “I went to that game too. Oxford City v Arlesey. FA Vase Final.” After a moment he asked are you from Oxford? When I said yes he produced an Oxford scarf from his inside pocket. Although he was an Oxford fan the others he was with were not. Turns out he left Oxford about 20 years ago and, whilst still being yellow, sponsors Argyle in some way. I then remembered him from last season because the Fan Fest organisers had made a presentation to him.

Chatting to the locals I couldn’t stop myself telling them that they would win easily, adding that it would be an absolute given if we performed as we had done two days earlier. This is kind of a self-defence mechanism and the evidence was on my side but there’s nearly always that sneaking feeling. If there wasn’t would there be any point in going?

The playing surface was as perfect as you’ll see this time of the year. It obviously helped the passing game at which both teams were rather proficient. The thing is though, we were not creating anything. Argyle had more incisiveness about them and were finding a lot of joy down their right. THD was beaten very easily a couple of times and also frequently lost the ball. It was his worst game yet.

Before kick-off, Nigel, another who left Oxfordshire for Devon many years ago, but still retains an affinity, had asked who to look out for. I told him THD and Hylton. I really should keep my mouth shut – Danny didn’t stand out either.

We were undone on 19 minutes when Dunkley failed to deal with a long ball down the middle and Lewis Alessandra rounded Clarke to score from a tight angle. Not long after, we looked as though we would concede another, but didn’t.

Although this was a vast improvement on Boxing Day we didn’t look like scoring.

The changes made had not weakened the starting XI. Other than for the goal conceded, Dunkley did fine. Perhaps I’ve underestimated Josh Ruffels’ contribution in the past. He does a job and has a decent engine. James Roberts I’ll come on to later. That leaves Sam Long. I knew he wouldn’t shirk a challenge and would put the effort in. He’d not looked out of place when just after the half hour mark Aaron Bentley went straight over the ball with a nasty lunge and took our Sam out. Mistimed or deliberate by a player even younger than the one he could have maimed I don’t know but my initial reaction was red card.

Referee Andy Davies immediately did the right thing. I then became worried that he might try and even things up, particularly as a considerable number of the home crowd booed every time Long touched the ball thereafter. Plymouth then got a number of soft free-kicks but that worry was unfounded because subsequent bookings were for them not us. He did not buckle and was one of the better referees we have encountered. (Coming from me and the attitude I have to officials that can be no more than a back-handed complement.)

That booing just was not right minded. If the boot had been on the other foot my annoyance would have been directed at the player who had been, rightfully, dismissed. Clapping them off I just don’t get. Perhaps people change when they enter a football ground but I didn’t feel that was the attitude amongst the Green Army in the Fan Fest.

For the rest of the half it was not noticeable that we were a man up.

At half time Johnny Mullins replaced Long and Callum O’Dowda came on for Collins. Long was injured but it would have been a wise decision to have removed him anyway as he was on a yellow. Again I had no idea what Collins was supposed to be up to. I am sure there is a position for him somewhere but MApp has not found it. I was impressed with COD (honestly) – he had energy and introduced something that had largely been lacking in the first half – running forward with the ball.

The second half was not that old when Nigel commented that ours was “the most powder puff attack I’ve ever seen”. We lacked physical presence and movement.

But we kept at it and slowly improved. And then on 69 minutes a goal came. A free kick into the box was headed back by Dunkley, whose size will be useful at set pieces at both ends, and John Campbell was in the right place a few inches out to get the ball over the line with his first touch. That’s what sometimes happens at free kicks when a team gets bodies in the box and kicks the ball towards them.

Plymouth didn’t lie down and die though and it required bravery from Clarke & Mullins to remain on level terms. But we were starting to play too, and by that I mean really play.

It was COD who won the ball around the half way line and fed James Roberts and the result was one of the best moments of the season and possibly our best goal so far. I am loath to rave about youngsters but this kid looks a natural. He’s not 19 until June. His control was impeccable. He ran at the defence, went this way and that and without needing to see much of the goal, bent a stunner in from just inside the box. Pure quality.

Not long after we’d taken the lead a fellow fan proclaimed, “They’re gone” and yes they were. I was not biting my nails for the final 10 minutes and we could have added a third.

This was just one game and more to the point one half where we were rather impressive so I am not going to get carried away, particularly as we were playing against 10 men for an hour. But looking at Plymouth’s home form and the fact that they had only let in three goals in the 11 league games on their own patch preceding this one the result was impressive.

However, we will need to play on a much more consistent basis like we did in the second half before I am convinced that MApp is the man for the job.

The League Table tells us that we are little by little climbing away from the bottom and some will take delight in now being 4 points above the Cobblers.

Have a great New Year’s Eve celebration all of you and here’s to a continued upward trend in 2015.