FAN’S VIEW  2025/26 – FA CUP THIRD ROUND AND A WASTED JOURNEY

A few minutes in Sheffield

Initially not happy in the least that we had a scheduled midday kick off at Bramall Lane on a Sunday. It was impossible to get there by train from Bicester in time for kick-off so reluctantly I drove with a couple of passengers. Being behind the wheel and given the time of day, pre-match beers were out of the question. As there were no traffic hold ups whatsoever I pulled up in a street just under a mile from the ground that I’d picked out from google maps at 5 to 10. We’d not even got out of the car when the news came through, game off.

Everyone who travelled to support the team will have their own story and frustration. At least we didn’t have to wait for a train home. Just imagine if anyone had purchased a ticket for a specific return train after the time they thought the final whistle would blow.

After a thirty second stretch of the legs I was retracing my steps back down south. A very low sun made bits of the journey quite awkward.

If this had been a Premier League postponement it would have received much more publicity. The Blades were, of course, in the top flight two years ago. When was the last time a PL game was called off because the pitch was deemed unplayable?  And with only two hours to the off? Almost certainly never.

Sheffield United put this out on their official site: “In the build up to the game, our pre-match procedures for forecasted low temperatures were followed, which included the use of our undersoil heating system. This morning a small section of the playing surface was raised as a cause for concern. With this area still part frozen, all attempts were made to address this section of the pitch for it to meet the standard required for the match to go ahead. The referee was then called in at the earliest possible opportunity to assess the playing surface. After he arranged an inspection, he deemed there to be a player safety concern, and opted to call off the fixture at 10am.”

Well SUFC either your pre-match procedures are not fit for purpose or your under-soil heating system isn’t. Come clean.

I’ll ignore the conspiracy theorists who claimed it was a deliberate ploy by the home side who wanted to give their players a rest. Given the state we’re in surely any club would want to play us right now. Bad form, no manager and no fit Cameron Brannagan.

On our official website: “The Club would like to sincerely thank all Oxford United supporters who travelled to Sheffield for their understanding and support in the circumstances.”  That’s assuming we do understand. I don’t. I find the use of “understanding” in such circumstances very annoying. Travelling fans of both clubs have had the piss taken out of them. Much time wasted and cost that won’t be reimbursed. Fuel burnt that didn’t need to have been. But we’ll likely be back for another evening kick off when it does happen. Some having to take time off work to get there but hey ho, that’s what supporting your club is all about.

FA Cup Round 3: MK Dons 1 Oxford United 1 (Pens 4-3 to us. And we only took 4) 

When the draw was made this did not fill me with joy but at least it was only just down the road and now I’m well happy with it because we’ve got through to round 4. We get £121,500 for winning this tie and I believe another £40k for having been shown live on Discovery +. A good cup run can bring in a decent amount of cash.

A Friday night kick-off at 19:30 scuppered my plans of getting the X5 bus from Bicester and I ended up driving myself. I found parking easy in Fenny Stratford and by 17:15 was in the Chequers. I’ve never been impressed with this area when it comes to away day pubs and beer. I went in the Chequers when we played here in 2021. The pub was GBG listed then – as it is now. It was okay in terms of beer and vibe four years ago but nothing more. It has recently reopened with new enthusiastic publicans. There was a warm feeling the second I walked through the door and that wasn’t only down to how cold it was outside. Very high-quality beer. As I was going to be behind the wheel again in a few hours, I limited myself to three halves. Two were Vale’s Electric Sheep which is popping up all over locally – which is fine by me. It’s a crisp pale ale with a citrus taste, but not too citrussy. The other half was a stronger stout (5.7%) and very nice that was too.

I don’t want to have to go back to MK but if I do popping in here again would help.

I wasn’t expecting us to have taken the numbers we did to this match. Whatever anyone might say I thought 2k travellers was a great turnout given the prices. I thought they would have reduced them beyond the £25 full cost and £20 concessions. We’ve played them many times recently and honestly it is not as if we are a big draw, is it? Or perhaps they think we are, as we’re currently two divisions above them.

That we accounted for approx. a third of the gate is telling. MK’s average league attendance this season is 7790 which is 1888 more than turned up here. I’d guess at highly discounted season tickets tempting supporters who are not that committed but I could be wrong.

Whatever you say about the club known unaffectionately as “franchise FC” there’s no denying the ground (which is too big for them) is impressive. Padded seats. (Game’s gone).

A day or so after the event I’d changed my view somewhat as to how well, or not, we did. Leaving the ground I had nothing much positive to take home with me other than the fact that we were in the hat for round four.  

In the days leading up to this encounter, discussions I had with fellow fans covered whether there is much importance in the FA Cup when our priority is obviously to stay in the Championship, massive ask that this is and that teams do get turned over by those lower down the pyramid. If that were to happen to us, so what? Just get over it.

I was having none of that. I hate losing football matches. Our confidence is low. Losing would have damaged it further. I’m mightily relieved I’m not experiencing what Palace fans will be at the moment. It makes me feel quite pleased. Then there’s the money to be made as mentioned earlier.

Mrs FV listened to the commentary on Radio Oxford which had Karl Robinson as summariser. Robbo explained that we shouldn’t look on MK as a typical L2 side even though that’s where they reside. He said they’ve got a big budget and Championship standard players. Ok, I’ll take a little bit of comfort from that but they’re only fifth and have not won in the last three.

The biggest factor in me becoming more positive though is that with a cooler analysis of the match I can see that over the entirety we were the better team, with better quality players and that this began to show in the second half and even more so in extra time. The longer the game went on we looked more in control and as the final minutes ticked away towards the 120, we were the ones attacking.

Many of the stats were about even but we had 61% possession. That doesn’t happen in the Championship. Our passing accuracy was 83.7% compared to theirs which was 71%. We made 143 successful passes in the final third which was double that of the hosts.

The main reason I wasn’t being reasonable until reflection was that our first half performance was utterly abysmal. I spoke to many at half time and not one person could believe how bad we’d been. There wasn’t a good word said. It was the usual: too slow and don’t look up for it. Do they have a game plan? It seriously felt like the players/club didn’t care one jot for the FA Cup.

We didn’t go behind until just after half an hour but if a goal was to be had, evidence strongly told it would be for them not us. It came from a corner but was different from the norm. I think we may have got a little confused. MK lined five players up outside the D and put two in the six-yard box with one other on the edge of the penalty area. We had everyone back, nine of whom were not marking anybody. As the taker was about to deliver, four of the five white shirts ran forward.  Jack Sanders won the ball, out-jumping Sam Long. When it fell Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was able to keep Michal Helik behind him and it was either a neat touch or completely lucky movement of the ball in a congested area that saw it through to the unmarked Aaron Collins who swivelled and scored off Matt Ingram from close range. Can’t say they didn’t deserve the lead.

Both teams were giving the ball away. Will Vaulks was guilty of doing so twice in quick succession which left Collins through one on one with Ingram. I’m no goalie and I’ve never read the keeper’s manual but they way Ingram back pedalled felt all wrong to me. He saved the shot with his left forearm so he was right in what he did. If that had gone in and we’d been two down at the break I hate to think what the mood would have been like in the away section.

For all that had gone on there was no turning on the team although certain players were being picked on in loud conversation. A number near me thought Siriki Dembele was completely useless. It was a very low bar I know but I thought he was our best player in the first half. He had our best shot which didn’t go that far over the bar and with his dribbling won a few free-kicks. Yes, he did lose the ball at times but was doing more than anyone else and with the team not playing well with little movement and space being found, he didn’t have many options for a pass.

On the subject of sub-standard performances I have to mention referee Paul Howard who does his officiating at L1 & L2 level. I’ve not seen any replays so as ever stand to be corrected but I thought he was nowhere near the quality required. The challenge that meant debutant Jamie Donley had to depart after just 17 minutes looked really nasty. My take on it was that the MK man waited for the Tottenham loanee to jump then smacked into him sending him spinning to the ground head first and landing on the back of his neck and shoulder. Dangerous and a yellow card at the least. Something like that could end a player’s career. Thankfully he didn’t need the stretcher which was brought on but it looked bad. Concussion protocols kicked in and he’s damaged his shoulder and ribs. Fingers crossed for the lad that it’s only minor. As Robbo pointed out this was the same thug who had already elbowed Vaulks – no censure from Howard on that either. Then there was the trip on Stan Mills as he raced into the box in the second half. I was quite close to that incident and in real time it looked a nailed-on penalty. It’s the obvious “why would he go down?” question.

We’re never going to be awarded a spot kick in normal time. The only time we’ll get to take a penalty is if a cup game ends all square after the allotted time has not produced a winner.

The improvement which came in the 2^nd period was not immediate.  Mills lost out in a tussle with Aaron Nemane to win possession from a Cameron Brannagan long ball. Nemane was then allowed to run 70 yards with only feeble attempts to stop him. Ingram had to tip the ball over the bar to avoid further ignominy.

I began to wonder if I would ever feel joy again in a football ground. It was that bad.

Then on 52 minutes we were level. The MK defence couldn’t deal with a long Vaulks throw and Will Lankshear buried it emphatically.

Joy? Hard to get carried away but obviously feeling a little better then.

Both sides then got chances and each keeper needed to pull off saves to preserve the scoreline. Collins should have done better with a header he placed over the bar.

At the other end Ole Romeny came in well to get on the end of a ball and put it just over. And in added time he did well to beat his man and find Filip Krastev who immediately set up Brian De Keersmaecker. A fine save repelled the Belgian’s powerful drive which then flew straight out for a throw.

In the second half of extra time it looked like we were going to win it without penalties when Myles Peart-Harris got round his flailing marker who fell to the floor. Bearing down on goal I expected him to hammer it with his left foot or pass it to Mark Harris to his right. Instead he took two touches with his right making the angle much tighter, then shot with his left straight at Craig MacGillivray in the MK goal.

So to penalties. Oxford United and penalties, who would have thought it?

1. – First MK pen put away confidently with Ingram going the wrong way.

What? Romeny taking our first? Bloody hell.  Juggling the ball as he walks up nonchalantly to take his kick. What’s coming next, a Panenka/Le Fee dollied into MacGillivray’s arms? No. Easy. He also sent the keeper the wrong way with a proper penalty. The confidence of the lad. He’s also scored from the spot for Indonesia against China. How many Romeny OUFC shirts have we sold in South East Asia as a result of this?

So 1-1. Up next Jonathan Leko who misses, but not by much. Fine margins. Big pressure.

Sparky crashed his straight down the middle as MacGillivray went right. Advantage us 1-2 but the next MK kick was easily converted.

Pressure? One of the coolest penalties you’ll ever see from Peart-Harris as he hit the side netting (inside the goal) with MacGillivray rooted.

Still advantage us. 2-3. Definitely pressure on them now. Their next kick was also put away well.

A slight worry when Howard made Matt Phillips replace the ball on the spot. MacGillvray got close but not close enough. 3-4.

The home side could not afford to fail to score. It wasn’t the best struck pen and Ingram sprung to his left to keep it out.

Job done. And in front of the young home support too. As seen in the vlog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqv1IzRoF0s

I’ll never warm to this football club given how they ended up in the Football League but fully understand that will mean nothing to these kids who will have had MKD on their doorstep when they were born. Yes, there’s passion there even if their history book only contains a page or two. But Gunners as well as Dons?  Each to their own.

The draw for round four may well have been made before you’re reading this. I want the tie we’ve got the best chance of winning. Realistically that has to be Macclesfield at home. If not, a new Premier League ground would be nice. I’ve calculated there’s nearly an 8% chance of this happening.

Meanwhile we’ve got a new head coach in Matt Bloomfield. It always has to be the same when someone comes in. Wait and see. He’s got a massive task ahead. I was underwhelmed by just about everyone who’s name was bandied about for the job. That’s the way it was always going to be. Wonder what MB’s attitude will be to a pre-season tour to Indonesia before the 26/27 campaign? I may well be reading too much into it but I thought going there in 2025 didn’t help us at all and probably to some extent damaged the relationship between Gary Rowett and the owners. Never a good thing. Owners always win. Look at Chelsea and Man Utd.   

I’ll be back with my next FV after Coventry away on 7 Feb. Along with the home games, Boris is going to pick up our trip to the King Power because he spent some of his early years in Leicester. Hopefully by then the Bloomfield era will have got off to a good start with a reasonable number of points having been accumulated.

Our new head coach did very well at Wycombe changing their method from the Gareth Ainsworth direct approach to more possession based but with a quick attacking style. What will he do here?

What has he got to work with? Are they his sort of player? What did he learn from watching us at Stadium MK?

We’ve never really had a settled side all season for one reason or another and teams that are sent out in the FA Cup are generally not reflective of the league XI. Fringe players are given the opportunity to show what they can, and can’t do. Here we saw two players who had only just arrived, literally in Peart-Harris’s case. We also had two back from injury. So it should not come as a surprise that we didn’t look like a team that fitted together seamlessly. At the end of the day though it all worked out much better than it had done at Exeter a year earlier.

If we dig a bit deeper and force ourselves to be just a little bit optimistic there are some positives to be found.

When we found out that Jamie Cumming wasn’t starting there were audible groans but Ingram didn’t let us down. He was better than I thought he would be.

I like the look of Ben Davies. A decent footballer at the back.

It’s a real boost to see Phillips and Cameron Brannagan returning. Bran though understandably looked quite rusty. We need him firing on all cylinders for the remainder of the season.

There were touches of class from Krastev and De Keersmaecker. The more we see of that on a consistent basis the better. The latter though I think is a really steady player and a potential string puller.

And finally, Romeny. Wtf? At times he looks like the worst player on the pitch and then possibly in with a shout for being the best. Unconventional. Up to the rigours of the Championship? Debatable. But if he was, that would be something.