(Con)tent

The message from Mark Ashton about a tent and real ale and stuff in the car park before the York game all sounds pretty good. Is a leaf being taken out of the Pilgrims’ Fan Fest book? I’m all for it but with the caveat that profits must go to OUFC and not the Stad Co. (Something that needs to be checked out)

Pre-match thoughts

There has been very little enjoyment this season. Moments of ecstasy have been rare, or more truthfully, non-existent. But however much hurt there has been throughout any season, if it comes down to a grim battle against relegation in the final weeks, when that battle is eventually won the pure relief given off has orgasmic qualities that match and quite possibly beat those experienced at the other end of the table where it is all about promotion. (We can but dream)

Even in a League where the standard isn’t that high we’ve still managed to be for the most part very poor under Mapp’s management. We have underachieved in alarming fashion given the money and supporting resources he has had at his disposal. Nevertheless I’ll still come away from the Kassam deeply satisfied if we beat Carlisle because this would be a very big step towards safety. There is an anxiety around and the quicker it is lifted the better for the health of every OUFC supporter who takes their club seriously. We want that anxiety to have been well banished by the time we travel to Newport on the last day.

Perhaps when compared to some other teams we’re not quite so bad

Players in players out

The revolving door continues to revolve. I’m in a spin, bemused. I’m just hoping for a Vassell, lean mean fighting machine.

Match

That we were hurried along our way from car to turnstile by the elements told me that the wind was likely to have a significant impact on this game with great potential to spoil any attempt to actually play football. And that is without taking account of the tired worn out rugby ravaged playing surface. So a very well done to the boys in yellow for not only entertaining us in these trying circumstances but also for bagging the three points.

After the first minute or so we were the side on the front foot even though the gale was against us. This was very pleasing but what wasn’t pleasing was our early finishing which again left much to be desired. It cannot all be down to bad luck. It had looked easier to score than not when Kemar Roofe miskicked and Patrick Hoban then had the ball fall invitingly at his feet. Same old, same old. One began to wonder if he would ever open his account.

There were other chances but we’ve not been clinical for some considerable time now so no real surprise that we didn’t score.

Before the 10 minute mark we were one down. I heard a couple of mutterings blaming Ryan Clarke, unfairly in my view even though I haven’t seen any replay. It was a well whipped in free-kick even without the wind to help it on its way. The Cumbrians had plenty of tall chaps in the penalty area, all of whom could have got a touch on it. None did and it went straight in. I felt Clarkey was almost in a no win situation and if he had managed to have kept it out it would have been a worldie.

At one down our performance didn’t change – we continued to play well but continued to not score.
That we were better than of recent times was largely down to Danny Rose. I acknowledge that he had, like most players tend to do, lost a bit of form and was possibly rightly dropped. That said, he should have been brought back much sooner.

He replaced the suspended Alex MacDonald who is a winger / wide midfielder. Rose is no way a winger and much more of a central midfielder. These berths, assuming there are only two of them under the standard Appleton blueprint, have recently been occupied by Josh Ruffels and Michael Collins. I’ve thought for a while now that this is an area where we have been weak in that it has lacked tackling and creativity. (So what does that leave?)Rose is that bit more creative than the other two and actually puts tackles in which tells me an in form Rose should always be picked ahead of either one of them. He was my man of the match with the other Danny, Hylton, not far behind him.
For all our decent play it looked like we would never score, then it happened. Roofe attacked down the left. As he was being fouled he managed to deliver a tremendous cross with the outside of his right foot (that’s what it appeared to be from the back row of the SSU) and Hoban was on to it in a flash to register his first goal for the club after 1116 minutes (excluding added time).

There are plenty of people who are saying, “I’m not sure about Roofe.” I’d just like to add that whilst people are not being sure about him the lad is doing pretty well for us. He can beat a man and get sight of goal. But then unfortunately his radar is tuned to the OUFC finishing channel and whilst he may aim a curler at the top corner the ball ends up way off target and either in the car park or East stand.

There was pleasure and relief all round that Hoban had at last got off the mark. I was so pleased for him. But that doesn’t mean he is L2 standard. Up until the time he netted I was again thinking he hasn’t quite got it, too small and a bit too slow. There was one quality pass though when in a tight situation he angled the ball between a couple of Cumbrians to the feet of a colleague. Top notch stuff.

In the second half we again looked much the better and technically superior side but a further goal did not materialise.

Carlisle were limited but they did have, as many L2 teams do, in Jason Kennedy, a bald headed semi-thug of a midfield enforcer who can effectively play the simple pass. Their other player of note (and this is a low key note) was Derek Asamoah who only came on in the 54th minute. He is one of those small types who has a bit of power and whose instinct is to head for goal but as he didn’t really have any support to help him along his way wasn’t much to worry about, with his most notable contribution being feigning injury, apparently on his manager’s say so.

This meant given our dominance, even with our almost non-existent striking power, we were the favourites to take this game.

And take it we did. On 68 minutes Troy Archibald-Henville was sent off when he received a second yellow card for a foul on Roofe. His name alone deserves a dismissal but there can be no complaints over this booking. TAH’s laboured movement towards our loanee as he bombed forward had foul written all over it. So off he went with his silly name.

Vassell stepped onto the pitch with the clock showing 75 minutes. Five (yes just 5) minutes later he had put us two one up. Compare and contrast: no pissing about from him; a proper shot with laces put through the ball. This is something our regulars seem incapable of doing. Do this regularly Kyle and you’ll be loved by the yellow brigade.

So we now sit in 16th position which looks so much healthier than the 19th place we occupied at the start of play. A defeat would have seen us in 20th which doesn’t bear thinking about. All is far from being rosy in OUFC land but I now feel just that bit more comfortable. It never seems right to me when I look at the league table and see Accrington Stanley above us. (Terrible condescending disrespectful attitude I know, but there you are). We are now above them on goal difference.