FAN’S VIEW: 24/25 – No.37: PORTSMOUTH AT HOME

OXFORD UNITED 0 PORTSMOUTH 2

From an Oxford United fan’s perspective this game, as far as the football was concerned, is largely one to forget although again we vastly improved as an attacking force when substitutions were made. This time it was in the 66^th minute, a minute later than at Derby.

It’s what happened off the pitch that will remain in the memory when once again we were reminded that football is just a game and there is so much more to concern us.

It would have been Micky Lewis’s 60^th birthday but sadly Mad Dog is no longer with us.

On Wednesday it will be three years since the tragic death of Joey Beauchamp. This being the closest home fixture to that date a minute’s applause began in the 11^th minute. As the game had paused for a free-kick the referee, Will Finnie, and both sets of players along with the fans of each team joined in. The football family coming together as they always do at times like this.  

Just as this was about to take place there was a “medical emergency” at the back of the North Stand. Almost immediately the seriousness of the incident became apparent. Football had no importance. If a decree had been made: “we’ll call it a draw and all go home” I wouldn’t have complained. It was, as everyone suspected, a cardiac arrest. The best news of the day was this statement which the club put out after the game: “We are pleased to report they are now in a stable condition and receiving further treatment in hospital. The Club would like to place on record our thanks to the onsite medical team from St John Ambulance and South Central Ambulance Service, Thames Valley Police, stadium stewards, and off duty paramedics who arrived on the scene within 30 seconds. CPR was administered and the person concerned was eventually resuscitated, before being taken to hospital.” Those thanks cannot be overstated.

The filming of the incident I sincerely hope was just a misunderstanding that had not been sensibly thought through. Without question it was wrong to have done so. We move on.

With football being “the most important of the least important things in life” the vast majority of the crowd became focused and emotionally involved in the action once play began again after the lengthy delay.

In the first 10 minutes before the stoppage I didn’t think we were at it but when play resumed an improvement was noticeable. That said we didn’t really look like scoring.

It didn’t take me very long to get frustrated with Siriki Dembele. Very talented player but this time I thought he was holding on to the ball too long and getting caught when there was actually a fairly simple pass on enabling us to keep possession. This was happening close to the centre of the pitch where the risk is higher than losing the ball much nearer the opposition’s goal. Risk and reward and all that. If there’s a decent chance of something happening by all means have a little dribble on the edge of the penalty area. He had an effort on goal in the first half but it wasn’t convincing. He’s now started 11 games and come on as sub seven times without scoring and has provided just one assist.

Greg Leigh pulling up and having to go off in the 41^st minute wasn’t great news and didn’t help our cause. Apparently not as bad as it first looked thankfully. I’m not one who in any way thinks they know better than a manager – that would be utterly ridiculous but there are obviously occasions when I don’t agree with their actions. I thought the natural move to make with Sam Long coming on was to put him at centre-half and move Ciaron Brown to left back. Brown has been really good in that position previously even though he prefers playing in the centre. I recall seeing SL not looking comfortable at LB on rare occasions before. That’s just not his natural position and I thought it was the same again here. We no longer had the out ball from our keeper to GL’s head out on the wing. That was not helpful when we weren’t finding a lot of space to get the ball forward by shorter passing or by knocking it centrally long to a big man with the skill to hold the ball up because we have not got such a player.

In the previous FV I wrote that Pompey were well capable of coming here and winning but that we were well capable of keeping a clean sheet. Which would it be? And if we achieved a shut out would we score to get all three points? Although knowing getting goals is a really big problem for us I optimistically noted that we usually find the back of the net at home.

The reality was that Portsmouth did the business. I looked at their team on paper and thought yes, that’s a decent side but the even harsher reality was that they’d been shite away from home before coming here. One win, four draws and eleven defeats. So what does that say about us?

We couldn’t keep that clean sheet on this occasion and totally ****ed up in our attempts to get a corner away in just the second minute of the second half. It was the usual crowd scene. Michal Helik got his head on the ball but then, after Callum Lang played the ball straight back in, it became a game of pinball where we had the opportunities to get rid of the bloody thing. Opportunities we didn’t take because we weren’t sharp enough. Will Vaulks had no time to sort his legs out and get it away. Long also had a swing at it and didn’t make proper contact. When the goal came it was the easiest of tap-ins. 99% of the population would have scored it.

The second goal Pompey scored in the 90+6^th minute was neither here nor there. It would not have come about if we had not been chasing the game. I thought it was brilliantly taken. A short game of head tennis took place and sub Terry Devlin read the flight of the ball when it was put back into our half. He got into space between Helik and Long. We were now playing three centre-halves with SL on the right of those. Devlin’s first touch was superb and his second clinical. A goal out of nowhere.

We’ve now failed to score in the last three games and have only got one in the last five. That’s a massive issue. Some people think we’re safe because we have 38 points in the bank. Others think we’re still in deep trouble because of this lack of goal power. I’m hovering between the two camps but am much less optimistic than I was a couple of weeks back. The remaining fixtures scare me. We clearly need more points than we currently have. Where are they going to come from?

The top four have put a big gap between themselves and the rest. Three of those four are still to come to OX4. Coventry who visit a week on Saturday are just one point outside a play-off place. That leaves QPR and Watford who won’t have given up on top six either and on their day can play.

Away we’ve won just once thus far. On Saturday it’s off to WBA who are 6^th. That leaves more trips to play-off contenders in the shape of Norwich, Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday although form might dictate that the state of play will be different by the time we rock up. Then there’s trips to teams below us who may be fighting for their lives: Hull, Cardiff and Swansea.

Somehow we’ve got to scrape together another dozen-ish points.

It is possible to look at things from a much more positive angle though. The bottom three are ten, nine and nine points behind us with 13 games remaining. Luton have only collected three points from their last 12 games. Their home draw with Plymouth on Wednesday was handy indeed. Perhaps Argyle’s focus, however much they try for it not to be, is on their trip to the Etihad. On Saturday Cardiff visit Home Park and on Tuesday 4 March they go to Hull who are fourth bottom. Third bottom Derby have only picked up two points from their last 10 games. One being against us. The bookies make them favourites for Millwall’s visit on Saturday. Why?

Then there’s the positivity on the pitch which was plain for all to see when we made our first set of tactical substitutions. On came Stan Mills, Ole Romeny and Tyler Goodrham. Those departing were Ruben Rodrigues, Mark Harris and Dembele.

We suddenly looked a different team. Good to watch. Coming forward with way more purpose than before. The obvious question being why weren’t some or all of these guys starting? Perhaps they’re not fully match fit with 90 minutes in their legs. If you start with them you’ve not got them to bring on as a weapon later on. The reasoning could be that they can do more damage against tiring opposition after others have put in the hard yards.

I thought some of the things Mills and Romeny did were a different class. Yet we still couldn’t score and the former was a guilty party in missing one of those where a commentator might annoyingly say “he’s got to score that.”

But at least we were now creating chances and on another day surely one or more would have gone in.

Romeny played a delicious ball into the onrushing Shemmy Placheta. He’d looked up and quickly dissected what of the Pompey defence had had time to gather. Unfortunately for us keeper Nicolas Schmid made a good block even though our Pole made good contact.

The Mills miss was from a good Cameron Brannagan delivery. The timing wasn’t quite right. It caught the side of his head or shoulder instead of his forehead. In mitigation having watched replays it looked as though either Romeny or a defender would get contact a fraction of a second before the ball got to him.

In the 84^th minute Matt Phillips replaced Peter Kioso. Not long after, Mills put over the most inviting of crosses. Phillips, unmarked on the edge of the six yard box, headed over. I say he’d got to score that. Family in the North Stand said this was not as bad a miss as Mills’s. My opinion based on my SSU vantage point was that it was.

Irrelevant really because neither went in. The last time we scored a goal was in the 69^th minute of Tuesday 21 Jan against Luton. Now a month ago.

What can be done to improve our chances of troubling the scoreboard? Stop persisting with Harris? People defend him by saying “but he’s not getting any service” but I’ve not heard anyone with the opinion that he’s a long term solution and is up to Championship standard. With Tom Bradshaw out for the foreseeable I’ve heard a suggestion that Phillips should be tried up top. Possibly, but he’s not a finisher. He’s a quality experienced campaigner who at times though has looked past it. Can he come good? Or stick Romeny there from the off? More chance of finding the back of the net perhaps but he’s not actually been prolific in his career.

Of fellow fans I’ve chatted to the view is that Goodrham has to start doing more to justify a starting place. I don’t disagree.

This conundrum is one Gary Rowett has to find a solution to. All part of a very stressful job.

OXFORD UNITED IN THE COMMUNITY

A fellow Yellow has asked me to publicise the following and I’m very happy to do so. These are his words:

Last year, I took on a swimming challenge to help address some health issues and improve my overall fitness. From September to November, I aimed to swim 50km and linked this to a dementia charity through JustGiving. The support I received was incredibly motivating and helped me raise nearly £1500, surpassing my personal target. I actually swam 65km due to the motivation of having so many contributions towards the charity

I’ve recently returned to the pool after several false starts and decided to contribute any funds raised to ‘Oxford United in the Community’ https://www.ouitc.org/ as the clubs official charity. I was thinking of setting a ’50km or more’ target before the end of the season to link to the OUFC teams own season targets. I’d love to help the Club’s charity raise funds as they do so much good and it would be another aim to give them some recognition for the fantastic job they do.

I’ve swam my first 5km last week….45km to go. Please support me

https://www.justgiving.com/page/graham-deacon-3?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

He’s suggested his effort could be entitled FOSB (Friends of Swimming Baths).