MANSFIELD

Given the downpour on Friday night I didn’t think the vicious accompanying winds would have done enough to make the pitch playable and was very surprised that after the early morning pitch inspection it was game on. The ground staff should be congratulated. That there were a couple of mishit hacks into touch is a given in these times when Noah is about to make a spectacular comeback. No one is to blame not even the hacker.

During the first half the wind – and it was a strong one – was with Stags. It was therefore only to be expected that we would be required to do a lot more defending than attacking. But even accepting this as a given during the first 25 minutes I was disappointed with our inability to keep the ball and the fact that our ventures into the opposition half were as rare as Donald Trump having a good hair day. I was probably expecting too much.

Even in this period I thought Danny Rose stood out with his work rate, his above average passing and for a guy that isn’t the biggest, the way he seems to make his body strong and get it in the right places. David Connolly looked quite reasonable too, albeit in our own half.

And of course there was the defence as a whole whose contribution should not be taken for granted. Post match the Mansfield manager Paul Cox put his own spin on things. He said that 3-0 suggests that they took a beating but pointed out that they had 14 attempts on goal, God knows how many corners and should have been out of sight in the first 20-25 minutes. The commentator on the Football League show fell into the same trap when he suggested that Mansfield could do with a spell at finishing school.

I think they need to consider how good the chances actually were and whether their strikers should have actually done better than they did. They also need to remember that a goalkeeper is a vital part of any team. Ours was better than theirs. Ours is on magnificent form at present.

Class tells even in conditions like Saturday’s and so it proved on 27 minutes. Beano, who worked tirelessly as ever, out on the touch line, touched a ball back to Tom Newey who from distance whipped a cross into the box. Connolly’s chest control, use of the body to shield the ball and a bit of twisting and turning proved enough to put us one up but if I’d been a Stags fan I would have been disappointed in Alan Marriott’s effort to keep it out.

From then on in we were never under any great pressure although in the second period our opponents had more of the ball in our half as they played towards the fence end than we had done. This proved quite helpful as it gave us space in which to play and our passing game, which had been ingrained under Chris Wilder, came to the fore as we confidently knocked the ball about. Perhaps there was a difference here. Perhaps our American friend who frequently chats to Jerome is right in mentioning that there is a difference between “defensive possession” and “offensive possession”.

Goal number two not long after the restart came following another Newey ball into the box. In normal circumstances this ball would have been easy to deal with but with the wind playing its part the clearance didn’t go far. Nicky Wroe did well to bring the clearance down but then got into one of those caught between the legs and under the feet situations. But he had time to sort this out, get his right foot to feed his left and then plant a shot from distance past the again despairing effort of the keeper.

Number three was one of the best team goals we’ve seen for some time, plenty of one touch stuff and delivered with proper attacking intent. It again involved Beano, Newey and Connolly. Beano, out wide again fed Newey. One touch from Newey gave the ball back to the on rushing Beano whose first touch to Connolly was knocked straight back into Beano’s path. Beano was by now in the box at quite a tight angle. With his second touch he hit the post. Such a move deserves a goal and quite rightly the ball fell kindly for Deane Smalley to net.

With 20 minutes to go we assumed our 3-0 positions. (Thanks for that one Selfie).

How strange it was not to have that tension knotted deep within right up to the final blast of the referee’s whistle. In fact it was a very strange atmosphere throughout with no noise of note, no atmosphere of note and from the numbers present one would never guess that we are top three.

Each to their own but I think the chairman, players and Mickey & Mel deserve better than this. So where are all these people who refused to return until “Wilder Out” became a reality, because this has actually now come to pass. The reasons are of course manifold and have been well debated on OUFC forums. We may have now won three home games on the trot but it will take time to properly register. There’s obviously this darned weather and if you’ve got water lapping around your front door football is hardly going to be a priority and money is still very tight for many people. And it is so much easier to get out of the habit of watching football than getting back into it.

But it goes without saying that every entrance fee lost is revenue denied which in turn reduces our chances of progression.

THE DEFENCE

The way they are playing at the moment not one of them deserves to be dropped. That obviously includes young Matt Bevans who looks so assured and mature beyond his years for one so inexperienced. I really hate cheating and foul play whether it is the sneaky stuff or unashamed violence but if I’m honest I was quite pleased with MB in this regard on Saturday. (I wouldn’t have been, of course, if he had conceded a penalty). Matt Rhead is a very large unit who puts it about as witnessed when he decided to jump into Clarkey but our Matty was not afraid to man handle him in the box proving he’s up for mixing it with the big boys.

If we didn’t know he was a “makeshift” centre half we’d think David Hunt was the real deal and Johnny Mullins is, well, Johnny Mullins. And I’m becoming more and more impressed with what Newey brings to the team.

So what do we do when Jake Wright and Michael Raynes are fit? Leave them out until an obvious loss of form or further injury dictates otherwise? Yet again I’m glad I’m not the manager.

THE MANAGERIAL SITUATION

I’m glad that we’ve not rushed into anything stupid and I never thought for one moment Ian Lenagan would do that. And it’s not as though things are drifting because Mickey and Mel are doing quite nicely thank you.

That of course doesn’t mean that they are definitely the men to take us forward. Yes, I’m glad the call is someone else’s.

Prior to Saturday we had remained unbeaten since Wilder’s departure but had only taken 50% of the points on offer from the four games. This isn’t good enough to see us over any line. I was quite concerned when Mad Dog had said that after scoring at the Memorial ground we should have seen the game out. That’s 80 minutes worth of seeing out, which is a lot of seeing out. Our line up against Mansfield however showed proper thought for attacking, even without our wide men, whilst not weakening our defensive resolve.

And finally,

BRISTOL ROVERS – REVISITED

I got a bit of feedback from our friends wearing the blue and white quarters following last week’s Fan’s View. I was awarded the accolade of the most biased blog ever read. For your consideration / entertainment / perusal / endorsement or whatever, I give you:

What a load of tosh. The most biased blog I have ever seen. Look at the stats, more possession, more attempts, more corners and anybody could see the alleged elbows were accidental. Lets face it, Rovers were the better side and unlucky not to win.

And

There is a very good reason why Oxford are unbeaten away. I have not seen such a blatant display of cheating, play-acting and continual harassment of the officials since the heydays of the “Dirty Leeds” teams of the 1970’s. Every time Rovers started a forward break one of your cheating gits went down like he’d been shot, screaming like a girl. Pathetic.
Rovers are really poor are they? Doesn’t say much for Oxford then, when we’ve taken 4 points from you.
You want to petition your manager to cut out the cheating and play to the spirit of the game; you might lose a few more games away, but at least people would enjoy the football a bit more.

I’ve just remembered which team it was that put Alfie out for months.

Until next time.