Last night

[SmileyMan]

The difference with Wilder's team is the way we win. Even in the &quotten points clear at Christmas&quot season, it always seemed to be go one-nil up, then cling on for dear life and once the tactics had been rumbled and Duffy had been worked out, we were doomed.

Now we go two ahead, then keep posession, (mostly) up the pitch and restrict even a decent side like Luton to long-range potshots and the odd break which our excellent keeper deals with, while constantly threatening to extend the lead if they come too far into out territory.

Our number one danger this season is a club with more money poaching Wilder

[Snake]

Luton will not beat us to the title unless they sign someone who knows where the goal is.

Luton will not beat us to the title unless they get rid of Harford.

Nice try at undermining Luton, but hardly anyone reads this board and over 10,000 people saw two pretty decent sides last night.

Comparing ourselves to Wrexham will be interesting on Saturday, in partic because we’re away.

//

It’s disappointing that no one wants to talk about the hooli stuff properly, as hopefully we’ll have lots more big games to come in the future and unless society changes the people who came along last night will come back again, and do the same thing again..

But if that’s the way people want it on this board then I’m quite prepared to put my head in the sand along with everyone else.

[Ascension Ox]

Luton will not beat us to the title unless they sign someone who knows where the goal is.

Luton will not beat us to the title unless they get rid of Harford.

Nice try at undermining Luton, but hardly anyone reads this board and over 10,000 people saw two pretty decent sides last night.

Comparing ourselves to Wrexham will be interesting on Saturday, in partic because we’re away.

//

It’s disappointing that no one wants to talk about the hooli stuff properly, as hopefully we’ll have lots more big games to come in the future and unless society changes the people who came along last night will come back again, and do the same thing again..

But if that’s the way people want it on this board then I’m quite prepared to put my head in the sand along with everyone else.

Please explain what your hooli point is.

[Brahma Bull]

Evening Snake,

I believe some of the people in the North Stand are very worried about what the future holds for them. I suspect some will be banned by Police and/or Club in the near future.

This behaviour which has been seen at Luton last night, Villa, Northwich and other home games is unacceptable and hopefully we'll start to see action. If it isn't sorted, one of these days, everyone will be punished by some off-the-field penalty.

[Snake]

I don’t have a point or a solution, but I do have some random observations.

a) The stewarding passed the test of coping with a match like that very well, and we’ve proved yet again that Oxford United can cope with situations that some clubs in League One would have difficulty with.

b) In the end the police did a decent job as they were fast to react when it all kicked off (they got lucky as they had lots of officers already deployed at St Giles’ Fair) but they seemed a bit unprepared at the beginning.

c) It might be a good idea in future for games like this if opposition fans were disembarked at random points in the vicinity of the stadium, rather than parking their coach in the usual place at the back of the North Stand.

[Old Abingdonian]

Like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoyed last night, but I'm not convinced that Luton were that good. They clearly have talented players, and one or two of their passages of build-up play were classy - but they seemed a bit slow at times, and the finishing was poor. The left back was taken off at half time because Green had beaten him so often. None of their players, in my view, had as good a game as the Forest Green number 6 last Monday....

And the Nicholls incident was, in my view and watching it again on You-Tube, a red card, if only because the ball was so far away, and it was so clearly playing the man. It was reckless, too - behaving like that, he could not have been sure that he was not going to end someone's career.

[Baboo]

Football wise - what is there to say.

Hoolie element needs sorting obviously. Could cost us dearly. Possibly points wise and money wise.

Another problem is the car parking. I know of one former Oxford player who couldn't find a parking space so just went home. No piccie with the centre of excellence boys for him. If we are to see more nights with crowds like these something needs to be done. What's the solution here?

[GodalmingYellow]

Football wise - what is there to say.

Hoolie element needs sorting obviously. Could cost us dearly. Possibly points wise and money wise.

Another problem is the car parking. I know of one former Oxford player who couldn't find a parking space so just went home. No piccie with the centre of excellence boys for him. If we are to see more nights with crowds like these something needs to be done. What's the solution here?

Agree with this.

Hoolies need ASBOs to make them sign on at the nick at kick off times. Its the only way of keeping them away, because they won't care if therest of the crowd boo them.

Car parking (and more importantly escape routes) is a major problem, and one that the council didn't deal with properly when forcing us to Minchery.

The council have reneged on preventing Ozone traffic on matchdays, so parking will always be at a premium at an out of town stadium. There needs to be much more assistance form the council in parking provision on both sides of Grenoble Road, all the way up to Watlington Road roundabout.

Any new developments adjacent to Science Park should be subject to allowing shared parking on matchdays.

2,000 spaces was never going to be enough for a capacity of 12,500, with limited public transport links.

If increased crowds become regular, it will be easier for bus companies to justify many more regular routes close to the stadium.

The club, the council and bus companies should get their heads together and consider a shuttle bus between the stadium and the park and ride sites. This has the benefit of providing services for the ozone as well.

The exit routes, and in particular the Sandford and Cowley junctions are wholly inadequate. Grenoble Road is supposed to be suitable for up to 10,000 cars an hour. Well it may well be, but Sandford and Cowley junctions are clearly not up to that level of traffic flow.

This has green issues as well as the number of vehicles travelling to the site is huge for the number of people involved and on exit, the emissions will be massive for 2,000 stationary vehicles with engines running.

[theox]

Like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoyed last night, but I'm not convinced that Luton were that good. They clearly have talented players, and one or two of their passages of build-up play were classy - but they seemed a bit slow at times, and the finishing was poor. The left back was taken off at half time because Green had beaten him so often. None of their players, in my view, had as good a game as the Forest Green number 6 last Monday....

And the Nicholls incident was, in my view and watching it again on You-Tube, a red card, if only because the ball was so far away, and it was so clearly playing the man. It was reckless, too - behaving like that, he could not have been sure that he was not going to end someone's career.

Agree with all that.

On the hooligans issue, can you really call them hooligans?! They got within ten yards of each other and then just spent a long time pointing and swearing at each other?! They couldn't even push past the stewards at the top and no one tried anything as soon as 5 police appeared.

To me, the incidents at this game were far less concerning than the pitch invasions of last year. The problem at the moment seems to be that we have so few 'big' games that the 'lads' like to come out in force when we do get one. When we make it out of this 'poxy' league, they will soon lose interest if they have to turn up every week!

[GodalmingYellow]

I would have liked to see the stewards asking to see tickets and directing these idiots back to their seats, on pain of ejection if they did not comply.

[Snake]

On the hooligans issue, can you really call them hooligans?! They got within ten yards of each other and then just spent a long time pointing and swearing at each other?! They couldn't even push past the stewards at the top and no one tried anything as soon as 5 police appeared.

It was different outside.

The hoolis were waiting for the Luton coaches to park up outside the North Stand and there was a lot of real contact as soon as the Hatters fans disembarked.

See my note earlier in this thread about not making it so easy for the morons.

[Snake]

Another problem is the car parking. I know of one former Oxford player who couldn't find a parking space so just went home. No piccie with the centre of excellence boys for him. If we are to see more nights with crowds like these something needs to be done. What's the solution here?

On street parking in that huge development that will go on the other side of Grenoble Road.

That should be ready well before we get into the Championship, it's just a case of whether the authorities will make it a no go area for fans or not (like the scheme in the rest of the Leys).

[theox]

On the hooligans issue, can you really call them hooligans?! They got within ten yards of each other and then just spent a long time pointing and swearing at each other?! They couldn't even push past the stewards at the top and no one tried anything as soon as 5 police appeared.

It was different outside.

The hoolis were waiting for the Luton coaches to park up outside the North Stand and there was a lot of real contact as soon as the Hatters fans disembarked.

See my note earlier in this thread about not making it so easy for the morons.

Would it not be more dangerous to drop them off further away?! Someone could easily be coach-spotting and call in the boys as soon as the coach drops off leaving the away fans with a fairly dangerous walk/run to the stadium?!

[Mooro]

Woudlnt a set of barriers around the dropoff point be more efficient? Any person entering the area not from the coach to be arrested.

[Snake]

Woudlnt a set of barriers around the dropoff point be more efficient? Any person entering the area not from the coach to be arrested.

The “barrier