FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.49 – CHELTENHAM AT HOME

Pre-match ramblings

Not one fellow fan I know is filled with any genuine optimism having seen our team play this season yet they have far from given up hope that we can stay up. That though is based purely on the low standard of L1 this season and that there are some other rank awful teams around.

Here’s a few comments lifted from social media after yet another non-scoring goal-conceding performance at Barnsley.

“We deserve to go down. It’s mainly on the board for not sacking Robinson earlier, but my god KR did a job on us, and has probably crippled us for next season let alone this one.”

“That side we put out vs Barnsley, when we had our biggest budget in living memory, is embarrassing. All that money and we end up relying on kids, have no experienced striker. The whole thing is a disaster.”

“What’s worrying is even amongst those worst teams, I find it hard to imagine how we could win a game of football.”

“Even if we sneak staying up by a point or goal difference I will feel a bit of a hypocrite celebrating a true fluke where the absolute shiteness of others has kept us up rather than anything much this dull, poor team has done.”

I can’t disagree with any of that yet I’ll travel to Minchery Farm thinking this has to be the day we get our first win since 21 January (That is 2023 although it seems years ago now). Cheltenham are safe. They have nothing material to play for. Forget all this they’ll be relaxed and play with confidence talk. We should be fired up beyond understanding, looking to put right a thousand wrongs that we’ve had the misfortune to witness this season.

If anyone has regularly backed against our team in 22/23 they probably have paid their mortgage off by now and have a holiday home too. For this one a number of bookies are offering 5/1 for a Cheltenham win and 3/1 the draw. The best odds for a home win being 13/20. Are they not aware of our recent record? Have they not seen yellow shirts in front of goal?

OXFORD UNITED 4 CHELTENHAM TOWN 0

Just before we left home my son said “we have to win sometime”. My response was “yes of course we do. It will happen but we’ve been saying that for x no. of weeks and why should today be any different?”

Different it was though – very different. However for quite some time into the game that wasn’t a given by any means.

We started in pleasing fashion by seizing the initiative, Tyler Goodrham bending one wide of keeper Luke Southwood’s left hand post before five minutes was on the clock. From the back of the stand it was impossible to tell how close it actually was.

As proceedings continued though it became evident that there was no change of any real substance from what we’ve had to suffer for months and months.

The standard of football was poor. The half hour mark arrived with neither team having had a shot. By then it appeared that the visitors had weathered what we’d put up to them early doors, which wasn’t that much really.

Passing was going astray. We had no-one going wide left up front and when Ciaron Brown got the ball and went forward with it he had few options of what to do next to set an attack going.

Balls we did play into the box were poor but much of our play was the over and over sideways stuff at the back. With nothing materialising by way of telling movement further forward the occasional whack of the ball forward inevitably meant lost possession. It would either go through to Southwood or we’d lose the fight for it in the air.

At that stage it was difficult to see how we were going to score a goal. Our shape and pattern of play was confusing with the full-backs often being ahead of colleagues who were in the team for more attacking reasons.

Then on 38 minutes, almost out of nothing, we scored from open play. It came as a shock and whilst we certainly didn’t deserve to be behind, we’d not played thus far in a way that fully justified being one whole goal ahead.

It started with a long ball forward from Cameron Brannagan. Goodrham and Ben Williams tangled as it went over their heads leaving both Kyle Joseph and Sam Long to choose who took possession as there was no red shirt anywhere near. It was the latter who brought the ball towards the penalty area before putting in a low-ish centre which was met by Goodrham who had got back to his feet and re-joined the attack. I’ve not a clue what he intended. To bring the ball under control, to help it on its way to a colleague or to have an effort at goal. He caught it on the run somewhere between his knee and shin bone. It took everyone by surprise on the pitch and in the stands. It may though have been an excellent improvised finish.

It had been a nervy first half and at the break that was still the mood. We all know our poor record of keeping clean sheets. Accrington had just scored at Bolton. Goodrham had departed injured. His replacement being Josh Murphy.

In the 52^nd minute the nerves disappeared. The mood changed in the stands. A vibrancy that had long departed was back. The relief was palpable.

On the pitch we began knocking the ball around with much more confidence. Yes, confidence is very much the name of the game and it returned as if a switch had been flicked. Some of the football was again pleasing to watch and we looked as if we could score goals.

The catalyst was going two up.

In the first half I thought our pressing high up the field wasn’t very effective as it wasn’t fast enough to really put the defender on the ball under maximum pressure, or done as a unit but with just one of our forwards chasing the ball. Perhaps that’s our way now. Perhaps the design was to stop Cheltenham being able to play out but not for us to nick possession and do something ourselves.

I thought that changed in the second half. We pressed a bit more collectively and with more pace thus surprising the Cheltenham player with the ball.

They had a throw and went backwards with it having taken it much further back from where the ball went out of play. Joseph approached Southwood as the ball went back to him whilst at the same time Murphy had read their next move and ran towards Lewis Freestone, the taker of the throw. He blocked the Cheltenham defender’s attempted clearance brilliantly and was then face to face with the keeper. He had a very good chance of scoring but to his left Joseph had an even better one and the squared ball was put into the empty net. That was proper unselfish team play.

Our third, eight minutes later, again came from pressing and winning the ball back in the final third. The visitors just didn’t have the players with the technical skill to play this kind of game.

It went from Southwood to Freestone to the left back to Southwood to Freestone. Murphy again waited his moment then was on to the Cheltenham no.6.who struggled but managed to get the ball to a team mate and then get it back again. His control was poor and Sam Long intervened enabling Marcus McGuane to play it forward. Liam Sercombe couldn’t cut it out, Long fed Murphy and his perfect cross was begging to be buried – which it was by Marcus Browne’s head. That we had others in the six yard box at the time was also pleasing.

The final goal soon arrived. From a throw in Browne just walked through the Cheltenham defence and put the ball in the net. So simple. If Cheltenham were my team I would have been giving them abuse. For all our awfulness this season we’ve never defended like that. For the most part our defence has been quite good with players like Brown, Elliott Moore, and possibly Sam Long and Easty too being candidates for player of the season. Our defensive record is joint 11^th best in the division which is some claim for a team fighting relegation.

Seven red shirts plus a keeper and they still couldn’t stop him 

Four nil and it could have been more. Just before he went off Billy Bodin got his feet working in unison and then fired just wide. Southwood had to pull off a very good save to deny Brandon Fleming a first Oxford United goal.

That league table makes so much better reading now with there being one team between us and that dreaded dotted line. But it obviously isn’t over. The job isn’t done. There’s no room for complacency after one win in eighteen.

Forest Green have been the worst team in a bad L1 this season but that’s no reason to assume they’ll be pushovers on Saturday or that they’ll be as inept as our visitors were in this one. We’ve dropped points to other dreadful teams this season.

Scoring four and keeping a clean sheet though must have given a genuine confidence boost. That goes without saying.