Home Match Day Thread 25/04/2023: L1 - OUFC v Cheltenham Town

[Big Ron]

Genuinely couldn’t believe that nothing happened on that one. He could’ve broken Browne’s leg and made no attempt to play the ball. There’s an argument that it was a red let alone a yellow. Pure malice.

And the attempted elbow to Murphy's throat while he was tracking Browne back.

 

[captainox]

Well the refusal to leave Port Vale away as my final game of the season and the decision to make the trip down was certainly rewarded last night! Sat behind the directors box, exactly on the halfway line - I'd forgotten what a great view it is, made even better by the four goals.

Timing of the first goal was massive, Cheltenham had come with a really negative mindset, almost like they needed a point to secure their own safety, despite already doing that.
And then the second goal killed them off just as they tried to show some attacking intent in the game. We kept Alfie May completely quiet (Did anyone else spot him throw an elbow at Murphy as they ran side by side in the second half?)

Some great composure with finishes and assists - something we've not seen in recent weeks - and you could see the confidence rush back into all the players after the second goal. We played some great stuff following that, Josh Murphy worked hard, looked dangerous and was playing with a smile again. Kyle Joseph covers every inch of grass, and the likes of Brannagan, Browne and McGuane came alive with confidence around them. Sam Long was back to bombing on down the right. Fleming, Smith and Smyth all contributed well when they came on, keeping up the intensity whilst I thought Brown/Findlay and Moore looked really solid.

Everything that has been missing came at once, and most important of all - 3 points! Annoying that Accy won for our own position but means them v Cambridge is a massive game for both sides.

Lets finish the job on Saturday, and confine this season to the record books.

Definitely no Leon Blackmore-Such in the dugout area or with any of the various groups of players/staff in the South Stand Upper.
Interesting to see a certain J.Mousinho stood up with the injured players and backroom staff at the back of the South Stand in the first half.
Stevens, Taylor and Luke McNally were all seen as well.

 

[uptheus]

Well the refusal to leave Port Vale away as my final game of the season and the decision to make the trip down was certainly rewarded last night! Sat behind the directors box, exactly on the halfway line - I'd forgotten what a great view it is, made even better by the four goals.

Timing of the first goal was massive, Cheltenham had come with a really negative mindset, almost like they needed a point to secure their own safety, despite already doing that.
And then the second goal killed them off just as they tried to show some attacking intent in the game. We kept Alfie May completely quiet (Did anyone else spot him throw an elbow at Murphy as they ran side by side in the second half?)

Some great composure with finishes and assists - something we've not seen in recent weeks - and you could see the confidence rush back into all the players after the second goal. We played some great stuff following that, Josh Murphy worked hard, looked dangerous and was playing with a smile again. Kyle Joseph covers every inch of grass, and the likes of Brannagan, Browne and McGuane came alive with confidence around them. Sam Long was back to bombing on down the right. Fleming, Smith and Smyth all contributed well when they came on, keeping up the intensity whilst I thought Brown/Findlay and Moore looked really solid.

Everything that has been missing came at once, and most important of all - 3 points! Annoying that Accy won for our own position but means them v Cambridge is a massive game for both sides.

Lets finish the job on Saturday, and confine this season to the record books.

Definitely no Leon Blackmore-Such in the dugout area or with any of the various groups of players/staff in the South Stand Upper.
Interesting to see a certain J.Mousinho stood up with the injured players and backroom staff at the back of the South Stand in the first half.
Stevens, Taylor and Luke McNally were all seen as well.

Yes I did, but Murphy knew what he was doing, he was cleverly stopping/man-handling May from getting to Browne, so the elbow was to try and get Murphy off of him so he could get to Browne, hence May’s anger/extremely poor tackle on Browne which as Ryan said deserved a yellow at least, but I’ll take the 3 points plus 4 goals.

Just hope we didn’t use up our goals for last night, so hope we have some in the bank for the next 2 games.

 

[uptheus]

Well the refusal to leave Port Vale away as my final game of the season and the decision to make the trip down was certainly rewarded last night! Sat behind the directors box, exactly on the halfway line - I'd forgotten what a great view it is, made even better by the four goals.

Timing of the first goal was massive, Cheltenham had come with a really negative mindset, almost like they needed a point to secure their own safety, despite already doing that.
And then the second goal killed them off just as they tried to show some attacking intent in the game. We kept Alfie May completely quiet (Did anyone else spot him throw an elbow at Murphy as they ran side by side in the second half?)

Some great composure with finishes and assists - something we've not seen in recent weeks - and you could see the confidence rush back into all the players after the second goal. We played some great stuff following that, Josh Murphy worked hard, looked dangerous and was playing with a smile again. Kyle Joseph covers every inch of grass, and the likes of Brannagan, Browne and McGuane came alive with confidence around them. Sam Long was back to bombing on down the right. Fleming, Smith and Smyth all contributed well when they came on, keeping up the intensity whilst I thought Brown/Findlay and Moore looked really solid.

Everything that has been missing came at once, and most important of all - 3 points! Annoying that Accy won for our own position but means them v Cambridge is a massive game for both sides.

Lets finish the job on Saturday, and confine this season to the record books.

Definitely no Leon Blackmore-Such in the dugout area or with any of the various groups of players/staff in the South Stand Upper.
Interesting to see a certain J.Mousinho stood up with the injured players and backroom staff at the back of the South Stand in the first half.
Stevens, Taylor and Luke McNally were all seen as well.

Record books? Could we just erase it or say scrap book?

 

[Sarge]

Interestingly 'Nams keeper last night, Luke Southwood is actually an Oxford lad ( on Readings books, on loan to Nam)

heard a whisper that (most of) his family members are Oxford United fans, and they were in an executive box at last nights match

must've been mixed emotions of sorts for them

 

[BrockBuster]

Interestingly 'Nams keeper last night, Luke Southwood is actually an Oxford lad ( on Readings books, on loan to Nam)

heard a whisper that (most of) his family members are Oxford United fans, and they were in an executive box at last nights match

must've been mixed emotions of sorts for them

More than a whisper, was confirmed on RadOx during commentary last night.

 

[Followtheox1]

Interestingly 'Nams keeper last night, Luke Southwood is actually an Oxford lad ( on Readings books, on loan to Nam)

heard a whisper that (most of) his family members are Oxford United fans, and they were in an executive box at last nights match

must've been mixed emotions of sorts for them

I had double take there with you referring to them as Nam. I thought you were going all platoon or full metal jacket on us!

 

[Osei Yaw]

I had double take there with you referring to them as Nam. I thought you were going all platoon or full metal jacket on us!

 

[CCYellow]

Interestingly 'Nams keeper last night, Luke Southwood is actually an Oxford lad ( on Readings books, on loan to Nam)

heard a whisper that (most of) his family members are Oxford United fans, and they were in an executive box at last nights match

must've been mixed emotions of sorts for them

Ex pupil of one Mr McWilliams.
I wonder if he had a word with him before the game...

 

[Sarge]

Thoughts - the afternoon after the night before

that was the best team performance I've seen in a long time from an Oxford United side, especially 2nd half, everyone put in a decent performance I thought. Although Easty had little to do, he did what was needed to keep a clean sheet. And the prolific free-scoring Alfie May barely had a sniff, the defence did rather well. What particularly impressed me was Browne, Mcguane and Murphy played the way we know they can ( yet haven't all that often this season), Long had a really good game, capped by his two assists, Joseph ran like a Duracell rabbit (as he tends too) and got a much-needed goal for his tireless efforts, young Tyler Goodrham had an ecellent 41 minutes and got the goal to set up that superb 2nd half performance. We played with swagger and confidence in the 2nd half

the same performances Saturday and a week on Sunday ( with hopefully the same amount of goals scored too) should bring two more wins

 

[rosieburns]

Ex pupil of one Mr McWilliams.
I wonder if he had a word with him before the game...

Told him he was getting '4' if the best tonight

 

[bazzer9461]

It's a collective thing, everyone did their job and helped us function as a unit.
Cheltenham hardly got a kick and the vaunted Alfie May was invisible.

He was my main concern before last nights game.

 

[Bacon]

Fantastic win and performance. But, I will be flabbergasted if we don’t start with an entirely new defence and keeper next season should we stay up in League One (with the exception of Moore, possibly)

 

[bazzer9461]

Genuinely couldn’t believe that nothing happened on that one. He could’ve broken Browne’s leg and made no attempt to play the ball. There’s an argument that it was a red let alone a yellow. Pure malice.

Are you surprised with the state of the refs we’ve had over the last 3/4 games at home.

 

[bazzer9461]

Utterly politically incorrect but, amusing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651150340144906240

Absolutely brilliant

 

[bazzer9461]

Well the refusal to leave Port Vale away as my final game of the season and the decision to make the trip down was certainly rewarded last night! Sat behind the directors box, exactly on the halfway line - I'd forgotten what a great view it is, made even better by the four goals.

Timing of the first goal was massive, Cheltenham had come with a really negative mindset, almost like they needed a point to secure their own safety, despite already doing that.
And then the second goal killed them off just as they tried to show some attacking intent in the game. We kept Alfie May completely quiet (Did anyone else spot him throw an elbow at Murphy as they ran side by side in the second half?)

Some great composure with finishes and assists - something we've not seen in recent weeks - and you could see the confidence rush back into all the players after the second goal. We played some great stuff following that, Josh Murphy worked hard, looked dangerous and was playing with a smile again. Kyle Joseph covers every inch of grass, and the likes of Brannagan, Browne and McGuane came alive with confidence around them. Sam Long was back to bombing on down the right. Fleming, Smith and Smyth all contributed well when they came on, keeping up the intensity whilst I thought Brown/Findlay and Moore looked really solid.

Everything that has been missing came at once, and most important of all - 3 points! Annoying that Accy won for our own position but means them v Cambridge is a massive game for both sides.

Lets finish the job on Saturday, and confine this season to the record books.

Definitely no Leon Blackmore-Such in the dugout area or with any of the various groups of players/staff in the South Stand Upper.
Interesting to see a certain J.Mousinho stood up with the injured players and backroom staff at the back of the South Stand in the first half.
Stevens, Taylor and Luke McNally were all seen as well.

Wonder why, support for OUFC I hope and not scouting Browne, Murphy or even Joseph even though Joseph isn’t our player.

 

[bazzer9461]

Thoughts - the afternoon after the night before

that was the best team performance Ive seen in a long time from an Oxford United side, especially 2nd half, everyone put in a decent performance I though. Although Easty had little to do, he did what was needed to keep a clean sheet. And the prolific freescoring Alfie May barely had a sniff, the defence did rather well. What particularly impressed me was Browne, Mcguane and Murphy played the way we know they can ( yet haven't all that often this season), Long had a really good game, capped by his two assists, Joseph ran like a duracell rabbit (as he tends too) and got a mutch needed goal for his tireless efforts, young Tyler Goodrham had a superb 41 minutes and got the goal to set up that superb 2nd half performance. We played with swagger and confidence in the 2nd half

the same performances Saturday and a week on Sunday ( with hopefully the same amount of goals scored too) should bring two more wins

Interesting what one Nam supporter said.

This is a hard watch, Oxford are poor and we don't seem to be at the races

 

[AbsoluteZero]

The first half was an extremely difficult watch, slow, boring football with Bran and McGuane virtually playing in the back 4 but somehow we managed to get a goal and everything changed and the second half was superb.

My daughter made an interesting comment that the second half was so much better because it completely bypassed McGuane and he barely touched the ball, unlike the first half when slow crab football was at its best. Thinking about it she is right, but that isn't McGuane's fault it is actually to his credit - him being anonymous in possession is exactly where he is best, stick him in a position, let him do a job without really being noticed, and let the others play around him. Whatever it was, not allowing him too much possession to stifle the fast forward momentum of the team had the desired effect. More of the same I would say, we might finally have found how to play with McGuane in the team.

 

[Theox07]

We’ve let in less goals than we did last year defence has been solid this year

 

[dickwalton1964]

Interestingly 'Nams keeper last night, Luke Southwood is actually an Oxford lad ( on Readings books, on loan to Nam)

heard a whisper that (most of) his family members are Oxford United fans, and they were in an executive box at last nights match

must've been mixed emotions of sorts for them

He looked iffy to me. Plays a long, long way out of his box and looks an accident waiting to happen. Probably a good enough keeper but looks like he's been watching a bit too much PL/CL football and takes the 'good with his feet' tag a bit too far for a lower league keeper. He did one nice side step past Joseph but there were a fair few occasions where Joseph charged him down or was very close to nicking the ball. Worth a look maybe, no one really knows what LM's idea of a keeper is, who was his keeper at MK ?