County 2 Oxford City 0 ; Conference North
After a truly memorable
morning and early afternoon ( report of Sea of Blue March to follow late
Sunday/ early Monday with piles of pics),I half anticipated a depressing let
down at EP , which was totally deserted as I gained entrance circa 2.30(
ridiculously short vid of emptiness available on request).
Instead County worked hard
and snatched 3 points from Oxford, a team that had shaded the first half,
despite going one down within a minute, in what now must be considered
traditional fashion for them against us, and tried a bit in the second, but
they failed monumentally to capitalise on numerous gifts of possession from
County and thus paid the price, thanks to two special goals from M.O.M Iain
Howard. The game was nothing to write home about, to be sure, but 3 points and
a clean sheet are not to be sniffed at in our current situation- so I say well
done team...keep it up!
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| Teams come out! |
Back to 3o`clock then, and
......notwithstanding my earlier comments about low expectations I was glibly
forecasting 5 or 6 goals from County to anyone who would listen. A hint of my
precarious mental state perhaps – a poor soul wishing and hoping against all
available logic!
Anyway...I wanted 5 or 6,
and it was `strike one’ in no time as with Oxford`s defence melting away before
him, Rhys Turner slipped a peach of a pass out to Iain Howard. Now this looked
good, even though the keeper, Victor Francoz, was advancing towards the ex
Chester man. I have seen `em missed, but not this one...as the keeper came out,
so Howard gently lifted the ball over his head into the net! One minute
gone,....County 1 Oxford 0.......excellent! I might have perhaps cautioned
myself with thoughts of County 1 up in 60 seconds at their place a while back,
but I allowed a small pre Xmas wave of euphoria take over instead and had a
wallow!
The next few minutes were
deeply unimpressive and, Dickinson might have been a tad disappointed when his
neat flick on from Moses` pass found no takers in the box.
This served as a signal
for some time spent concentrating on defending for the blues, as Oxford came at
them, and County were not all that accurate with their passes thus helping
rather than hindering their opponents.
Fagbola and Jacobs both
had to make hurried clearances, and the 7th minute saw County almost
sleep walk into trouble as Kayden Jackson was allowed through down the left. It
was not what I wanted to see, especially as the forward whipped in a fairly
tasty shot, but Ormson`s dive saw him clutch the ball and keep him out.
That was not terrifically
good ,defensively speaking, but more angst quickly followed , again down the
left, as no less than 3 County defenders seemed intent on getting in each other`s way rather than
attending to Tom Winters, it was awesomely bad, as again the forward got a shot
off , being denied by another good stop from Ormson!
Hmm..........not great,
and County did nothing to help themselves- instead conceding a couple of free
kicks that pushed them back once again, and it was once more left to Ormson to
do the biz and stop Winters from getting that equaliser ,with another decent
save!
This was good from Ormson,
but what was happening in front of him? Well.....the answer to that one would
have to wait as Oxford were surging forward again and after Winters had ended
his run by laying the ball back to Chris Palmer, and Palmer had fired a neat
shot in, Ormson again had to earn his corn via another diving save.
Monotonous?.....................probably,
but a touch alarming too ,so unless City were unbelievably bad at finishing, we
would need more than a one goal lead today!
County then conceded a
free kick and a corner , which Ormson claimed confidently, and the first 20 minutes had passed with County
largely on the back foot, albeit one up!
We all know that goals win
games and one minute on, and County seemed on to double their tally when
Dickinson sent Turner darting clear on the edge of the box. Drifting towards
the by-line, Turner stopped sharply before turning to hit the ball towards
goal- it promptly hit a defender on the hand- a clear penalty, but the
referee`s lamentably fulsome mime told us quickly that he had not awarded one!
That was a poor decision, and of course Moses follow up shot went wide to make
matters even worse.
A save by Francoz from Dickinson came next , but Oxford may have
been encouraged a bit by the escape they had just had, because they pushed
County back again and Jacobs did really well to stop Jackson as he ran clear
down the left. However..... County`s propensity to give the ball away featured
now pushing them back once more, and they must have been relieved to see a firm
header from Chris Wilmott miss by a foot
or so, after he ghosted in unheeded at a corner.
To County`s credit, they
did fight back a bit, but a series of free kicks and corners came and went
without making so much as a visibly small
dint in the visitors confidence.
Meanwhile County`s
confidence did not look about to bubble over- diffidence seemed the order of
the day at times and it surfaced again, with just 6 minutes to the break when (
fearing offside probably) no one went for a decent final ball from
Jacobs....then again a minute later there were no takers when Howard fired the
ball over from the left.
We needed to get sharper
and put some daylight between us and them- a fact that became more apparent
when Jevons handled and the free kick saw Darren Pond scoot clear. It was a definite
chance and should have been put away- instead Pond screwed his shot wide, to
gales of raucous laughter from all but 12 of the crowd.
.....how about you?
At the very minimum now,
we needed County to go in with the score still 1-0, but the referee awarded
Oxford a ludicrously generous free kick. It could have been the return of all
our nightmares of yesterday and days before, but thank fully the kick was
wasted by Oxford, and County did hold out until half time with the score still
1-0.
No personnel changes, for
either team, on the re-start, which opened with Oxford attacking and Ormson and
Cowens in a fearful tangle faced with Jackson. The hapless duo totally funked
it, and Jackson as a result now had the clearest of open goals yawning in front
of him! It was 1-1 for sure, except somehow Jackson contrived to stab his shot
well wide of the goal! Wow....perhaps after all Oxford really were `
unbelievably bad finishers’.
I really did not want to
see the contention tested, but it looked like being, and within a couple of minutes,
as Fagbola sent the laziest of back passes into no man`s land between him and
Ormson. To make matters worse Jackson was on hand and he quickly went for the
kill, but thankfully Ormson reached the ball first lumping it unceremoniously
high into the Pop Side.
I was still cursing that
last offering when things threatened to brighten up a touch via Turner who
darted clear before picking out the unmarked Howard wide left. It looked like
Iain`s birthday, but it wasn`t as the liner had his flag up and that was that!
That was encouraging, but
still the blues would spoil it by giving the ball away, and Jacobs did
extremely well to deny Mike Symons after he had latched onto just such a loose
delivery.
Oxford continued to press,
but paradoxically it was County who came closest to scoring when Jacobs` effort
forced Francoz into action tipping the ball over the bar at the last gasp.
Cowen`s header, from the corner, cleared the bar so it stayed 1-0.
Both teams probed the
other next......County via Turner urged on by Lofthouse, and Oxford through
Winters, who tested Ormson with a nasty bouncing shot from outside the
box.............Dickinson went close with a header, whilst Fagbola hacked the
ball clear after Jacobs had slipped, letting Jackson in.
We were past the hour now
and Oxford, for me anyway, were still better on the ball and first to most
50/50`s, but to counter this Moke was on now ( for Dickinson) so perhaps
County`s forward movements would improve.
We then had one of those
moments we have not had for a while at EP....you know the one`s I mean- those
that make you simultaneously doubt both your own sanity and the official(s)
parentage! The ball was in front of the main stand when it swerved out off Winters,
so much so that I saw a man on Row Z duck as it came by, but no throw was
awarded , only a free kick moments later.....a phantom free kick as far as I
could see for no foul had been committed. County dealt with the kick well, but
I was not to be placated!
We then saw Chris
Churchman replace Lofthouse, with 20 minutes left, and I must say, cameo or
not, I was quietly impressed with Churchman, he showed plenty of enthusiasm and
some ability!
Oxford meanwhile had
brought Callum McNish on and he had sent a warning shot just a foot wide of
goal when County had lightly gifted possession away again. They also swapped
Marvin Robinson for the burly Symons, and were clearly going to go for broke
late on.
Both sides took turns next
to chance their arms, and Howard was unlucky to see Francoz keep his shot out –
at the other end Winters` fared no better ,but his lack of success was down to
Duxbury and Churchman who combined neatly to deny him.
With Oxford`s last
substitute (Jamie Cook) on for Malone their forward push continued apace and
Cowen was duped by Cook who then sent Jackson clear. It was another borderline
gilt edger, but the forward let the ball run out of play to the great amusement
of the Cheadle End. We were less amused moments later when Robinson dashed
clear unhindered, but the saintly linesman had his flag up for offside, and we
brightened up!
That said County were
living rather dangerously –emphasised on 81 minutes when Churchman won
possession and Moses promptly lost it. To rub salt in a bit....Winters was in
the clear yet again, but once more schoolboy stuff came from the Oxford
forwards as the number eleven scuffed his shot –totally failing to test Ormson.
On it went much in the same vein- interrupted , with 5
minutes left, by Moke who`s pass picked Jevons out perfectly. He was well
placed......seemed to have time, but side footed his shot wide!
That was gruesome stuff,
but within a minute Jevons had bounced back and slotted a neat pass out to
Howard on the left. He was a fair way out and he had no right to expect to
score, but that`s just what he did as a fierce drive gave the keeper no chance
whatsoever. It was 2-0 and surely game over?!
Even so..... County might
have notched another thanks to Churchman who picked out Jevons with a pin point
long pass. Jevons was blocked by a line of defenders however and the moment
passed.
Jevons then turned
provider again and was unlucky to see Francoz prevent Howard getting to his
long ball.
Both sides kept at it, but
there was no further scoring and County had secured a valuable win and 3 much
needed points. The clean sheet must have pleased AL and his new assistants, but
there is clearly stuff still to be done, and if matters can improve off the
park perhaps improvement on it will follow.
County line up;
Ormosn, Jacobs, Fagbola,
Cowen, Duxbury, Moses,Lofthouse( Churchman 70),Howard, Jevons, Turner,
Dickinson ( Moke 64 ).
Subs not used ; Charnock, O`Halloran, Craney.
Oxford City line up;
Francoz, Palmer,
Stonehouse, Pook, Learoyd, Malone, Symons, Pond, Winters.
Attendance: 1884
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