FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.45 – PORT VALE AWAY

PORT VALE 0 OXFORD UNITED 0

I could keep this very short and summarise thus: We now know how not to lose. We still don’t know how to win. We now know how to keep clean sheets. We still don’t know how to score goals.

Brevity isn’t my way though.

We seem stuck at the “something to build on” stage four games into Liam Manning’s reign.

These are the questions:

• Will any building get done before the season is over?
• Does LM have the players at his disposal to do that building? (That building being the scoring of a goal or two. From open play I’d say probably not. From set plays quite likely yes in the form of Elliott Moore storming in and getting his head on free-kicks and corners. I thought he was a big miss here in that regard).
• If the building does not happen and we continue as we are going, collecting just one point a game, will it be enough to keep us up? (That would put us on 46 points. Usually 50 points is considered a good bench-mark. Last season 41 ensured safety and 48 the year before that. In 18/19 and 17/18 a team with 50 points got relegated. It is highly likely less than 50 will be enough this time. Squeaky bum time. The maximum points FGR can end up with is 41 and Morecambe 47.

Another question is, were we worthy of the draw? My answer initially was very much yes. A win would have been a travesty but if the game had to be awarded to either side on points it would obviously have been to the hosts.

Coming away from the ground I heard a Vale fan talking into his mobile: “superb keeper, abysmal referee”. He didn’t waste words. That keeper was of course Simon Eastwood who produced lots of top class saves in the second half. Listening to the local radio as we drove out of Burslem one of the commentators said “With him in goal it’s easy to see why they let us have Jack Stevens.”

In Johny’s Micro Pub in St John’s Square I asked a couple of home supporters how their two Oxford loanees were doing. The answer was “not good”.  These guys were typical pessimistic football supporters. “As Vale fans if we’re 3-0 at half time we’re expecting to draw 3-3”. They did concede that as this was their first season back in L1 it was just all about staying up.

In previous visits to this club there had been a noticeable tension in the air with the feeling that it was all about to kick off at any minute. Not a bit of that this time. It seemed like a different place.

In years gone by our go to PV away pub has been the Bulls Head. Johny’s is directly opposite it. On our last visit it had looked so packed I didn’t bother to try and get in. Being earlier this year, no such problem. The landlord asked “home or away?” I know I should have been but I wasn’t expecting it in such an establishment. I was more ready for “straight or handle?” I did answer “away” and with a smile he said “You look alright.” One of the beers on offer was from the Cross Bay brewery in Morecambe which we had visited on our last away trip. This struck up a conversation where the landlord said he knew everything about beer and the trade. He wasn’t being big headed and added “I don’t know anything about anything else, mind.” He told us there were more seats upstairs where the football was on. Over plenty of football chat I occasionally looked up to see Josh Ruffels helping Huddersfield try to remain in the Championship.

If only all blokes and lasses running drinking establishments were like him.

On that visit I’d say Johny’s is a contender for best away pub of the season. The two pints couldn’t have been any better.

The Bulls Head isn’t bad either. It was packed, with Oxford fans making up a good proportion of the drinkers in there. Again more football talk and a couple of pints. This though meant that I was quite late leaving for the ground.

I had not bought a ticket on the basis that on the day prices were the same as buying before- hand and knowing that the away end is huge. When we’d arrived just before mid-day we tried to buy tickets at the offices where there was a notice in the window stating “tickets to be collected”. A young woman opened the window and told us that the ticket office staff wouldn’t arrive with the tickets until 12:30. We said we’d be back later.

It was later, much later, when I got there – about quarter to three. I was on my own as my mate who had driven and therefore had to very much limit his beer intake had gone on ahead. I’d not noticed the text he’d sent me warning that there could be difficulties.

“Do you take cash?” “No.”

“Card” says I not in a million years expecting, “No you can only get tickets on-line.” It took me a few seconds to realise the man in the office wasn’t joking. What madness is this I thought with visions of being back at Johny’s in a few minutes. He was though extremely helpful, telling me what I needed to do on my phone and when my incompetence knew no bounds, did it for me. I had to register on the Vale site. Set up an account including password which the system initially didn’t like. Then he whizzed through to the appropriate page and selected the event. Top right-hand corner “away” – click on that otherwise I would have been in the home end. So how do I pay for it I then I asked. “Card.”  So for the first time ever I entered the details of one of my cards into my phone. And then there is was a small QR code. “Don’t lose that or you won’t get in” he told me. If it had disappeared I would have had no idea how to find it again. That was the reason I pushed in to the front of the queue explaining as I went what was happening. No one complained. Thanks to my fellow yellows who I jumped in front of.

I didn’t understand this approach to ticket sales at all. Physical tickets did exist. OUFC sold some. There were some for collection home and away on the day so why on earth couldn’t a fan just roll up and buy one?

I had an email thanking me for my recent order from PVFC which included the line “if no one is in to leave it with my next door neighbour”. WTF is going on this world?

Anyway I did get to see a football match which truth be told was an awful spectacle.

The first half had almost zero quality to it. There were no shots on target from either side. The feeling amongst the almost 1000 travelling yellow army was one of tension throughout. They’d come in numbers thinking this should be winnable. It didn’t take long to realise it looked at least as likely losable but most likely draw-able given the ineptness of both teams attacking arsenal.

In the second half they got better and we if anything got worse. It was in this period that Easty was called on five times to do the business. We were no longer restricting them as we had been earlier although it would be wrong to say the defending was all over the place.

They also hit the bar and had a very good penalty shout after a Cameron Brannagan challenge which I would have found hard to argue against had it been given.

This was never going to be entertaining and football purists would have been heading for the exit after a few minutes.

Drinks break

Referee Martin Woods had a very questionable performance but it’s not easy to officiate a game like that. Early on we did appear to be getting all the decisions but later really blatant fouls were overlooked. He excelled himself when two Oxford players half tackled each other and he awarded us the free-kick. We also did the shithousery stuff needed when you’re in the shit. Easty probably coming up with the best example of going down seemingly injured when he wasn’t. Quite depressing in a game like this but a point is a point.

Dennis Politic was rightly shown a red card in the 90^th minute. The elbow smashed into Stephan Negru’s face looked deliberate. It’s a dirty game and make no mistake. Much good it did us though with no time remaining.

We ended up with 57% possession and that figure had been 64% at half time and our passing accuracy was higher than theirs. My impression was that the percentage of passes that found a colleague in the final third in telling areas was very low. The type of passes that win football matches if a team has a finisher in their ranks. I thought our passes in that area were lazy but there was very little going on ahead of the ball which didn’t help at all.

Josh Murphy disappointed me once more and I have to say the same for Yanic Wildschut, on as a sub with about half an hour remaining. There’s some talent there but he doesn’t strike me as someone who really looks like he wants to be here giving every last ounce of energy to keep us in L1. There was one occasion when he lost the ball then stood around in an off-side position instead of rushing back onside to receive the ball should we win it back or make a nuisance of himself as defenders were trying to get it properly clear.

As an attacking threat we are nothing. Vale had let in ten in their previous four matches. Burton, Pompey, Cambridge and Accrington each got at least two against them.

Again Gatlin O’Donkor gave his all but a more experienced head with better control would have increased our almost non-existent chances of scoring from open play.

This was our worst performance under LM and I’m finding it increasingly confusing why we’re seeing nothing of Tyler Goodrham, the one bright spark in the darkness at the end of the Karl Robinson era. Also on what I’ve seen of Brandon Fleming I’d be looking to find a starting place for him in our team.

I can see Accrington beating Fleetwood on Saturday and if we don’t do much better against Bolton than we did against Vale we’ll be in the bottom four.

The optimism I’d summoned up following Manning’s arrival and the initial draws has drained away a little after this. I don’t think we’ve got it in us to see ourselves safe and not worry about our rivals at the bottom. I am beginning to reason that if we stay up it will be down to the awfulness of others, not us going on some fantastic run in the remaining six.

No nothing to play for stage of the season for us which means there’s drama of sorts to come. Good or bad, we don’t know. It goes without saying that the pressure is increasing by the game. The same can be said regarding our next opponents but for them it’s at the other end of the table.

Stay strong, I’m telling myself. I know it is imperative that the players do. I wish I could believe I really do but in my current state of mind I have no idea what to think or how this is going to pan out.