Just to play devil's advocate - if either of Stewart's or Broadhead's chances had gone in instead of hitting the woodwork, would people still be pissed off with where we are in the league?
I would have thrown Kimpy on to=day, I am no fan of his but he is a maverick and to-day was his chance , a chance we could have taken with impunity.
Thats the fine line mate, and what keeps us all interested, I would have been over the moon bye the way.
Stewart or Broadhead whichever looked the less likely, maybe the latter as two tall headers of the ball up front might have been handy on those late corners, we were in the final third for most of the second half but were not really making it count. As with Gooch, I am not sure about AoB at all, we need better imo.
These will NEVER win 3 home games sat to sat impossible, they completly not only switched off after scoring just hoofed the ball, and were putting their arms up on who to through ball which is embarrasing, Oldham can play better football than this team, is it the manager ? or the players, you cannot be that bad and expect to win matches, why in the second half last 10 mins was important to get forward ? keep at them for 90 frigging mins for christ's sake, pathetic.
And that's the point I was trying to make. People are pissed off because we didn't win considering the way we played in the second half. We're 2 points off top and we still have to play the teams around us and with a transfer window coming up its all to play for. We're in the mix with a bit of an injury crisis in the squad - how many teams in this league could cope with that?
Disappointing result. Far better performance in 2nd half after Johnson changed to a back 4. Just lacking that cutting edge up front.
What's the general consensus on the Gooch "foul" for their goal? Looked very soft from East Stand. As he did the usual "felt contact" so fell over trying to trick the ref
Ratings from the Chronic Thorben Hoffmann 6 No chance with the goal and only had a couple of saves to make Lynden Gooch 5 Went down too easily for the Oxford goal, and a slip almost cost another goal in the second period Bailey Wright 7 Had a solid game as part of the back three, and later at right-back Tom Flanagan 6 Didn't do much wrong in the middle of the back line Callum Doyle 6 Did OK Leon Dajaku 7 Scored the goal from the left wingback position before later switching to the right. A strong performance from him Carl Winchester 7 Plenty of hard work and energy in the middle of the park Dan Neil 6 Kept the ball moving in midfield Alex Pritchard 7 Provided the assist for the goal and looked lively, particularly in the second half Ross Stewart 7 Caused problems with his movement, and hit the crossbar in the second half Nathan Broadhead 7 Only denied a late winner by a combination of goalkeeper and post Subs Elliot Embleton 6 For Dajaku 66mins. Fresh legs in the final quarter of the game Aiden O'Brien N/A For Pritchard 85mins. Not used: Patterson, Younger, Dyce, Kimpioka, Johnson
Couldn't make the game (or golf ) today... family and Christmas etc. I have seen the replay, Defensive cock-up for their goal Gooch mainly at fault, one of his 'fall-downs' asking for a free kick... Wright (?) Could have cleared as well. Hit the woodwork a couple of times, so unlucky... Still after Tuesday which showed that, by and large the reserves, are not good enough for the 1st team. January transfers are going to be crucial... Gooch, what can I say...
mind you i thought the ref vas very poor, regarding the fouling, they were pushing from behind and got away with it, when we did it they went straight down acting and normally got the decision, twice our players were booted in the face and no cards
I thought Flanno was excellent at the back for us and Wright was also very good at right back in the second half and got forward a fair bit. I though, goal aside, Dajaku was pretty poor overall in that wing back position. The lad has potential but isn't strong enough physically for this league yet.