coaxingstar71
First 10 yards are in the head
As promised……
The saying, ‘a game of two halves’ was certainly apt on a wet Tuesday night in Oxford, as the Blades recovered from a poor first half showing and a goal down to record a fine 3-2 win at the Kassam Stadium. Following a similar pattern to the Bolton game, United allowed their opponents to dictate play in the first half and then found success by playing to their own strengths in the second period.
Wilder replaced the injured Duffy by bringing Basham into the midfield to add some steel and restoring Ebanks-Landell to the centre of defence. Following on from their home defeat to Bristol Rovers, Appleton brought back; Nelson, Hall, Hemmings and ex-owl, Chris Maguire.
Despite concerns that the pitch would be ‘another Rochdale’, it didn’t seem too bad, although their appeared to be a number of bobbles and uneven bounces which made it difficult for the players to control it and pass the ball fluidly.
It was pretty poor fare from both sides in the opening exchanges. United forced a corner and then Hanson had a chance from about 15 yards which he ballooned over the top, but overall the Blades struggled to impose themselves. Wright picked up a booking for handball, with Hemmings protesting that he would have been through. Jake Wright picked up a facial injury as Oxford forced a corner and Blades fans were concerned as he received treatment on the pitch for quite some time before play could restart. This clearly unsettled the United defence and from the resultant corner, DUNKLEY got in front of his marker to glance in a header that flew past Moore on 22 minutes.
Carruthers replaced the injured Wright, which meant that Basham reverted to centre back with Carruthers taking Basham’s midfield berth.
United forced a few more corners and Blades supporters howled for a penalty when Freeman appeared to get hauled down, but in truth, the United players didn’t really protest too much. The Blades continue to struggle to get a foothold in the game with Fleck and Coutts both struggling to get their passing going. Fleck in particular seemed to give the ball away or get caught in possession nearly every time he got it. United seemed to have deserted their passing game and resorted to hitting balls up to Hanson in the hope of getting a knock down.
At the other end, Oxford didn’t create much either, although United had one let off when Basham attempted to clear his lines but hit the ball high and it fell dangerously in the United area, Moore got to it but only managed to palm it to an Oxford player and the shot was headed off the line. However the referee blew for an infringement on Moore (one of the few decisions he got right!) and United were awarded a free-kick.
Ledson was shown a yellow card for an awful two footed challenge on Fleck on 37 minutes after the ball had already gone right in front of the away supporters and many thought he could have been shown a straight red.
Half-time arrived with United yet to have a shot on target and Oxford comfortably holding their 1-0 lead.
Half-time : Oxford 1 Blades 0
Wilder had obviously had words with the team at half-time and they started the second half playing much better football. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, our passing was much better, more incisive and accurate and the players touch and control was much improved on the first half. However the Blades still hadn’t mustered a shot on goal and on 53 minutes, Wilder made a change, replacing Hanson with Lavery.
The change immediately paid dividends as United won a corner. Fleck took it and although it wasn’t a great delivery, the Oxford defenders allowed it to travel to SHARP, who did very well to bring the ball under control at waist height and hooked it through a crowd of players and beyond Eastwood in the Oxford goal. United had scored with their first shot on target.
After this, you sensed that there was only one team that was going to win the game as United played their passing game. Fleck and Coutts were much improved and Carruthers again showed some neat skill and touches. Although United were pressing and in control, shots on goal were still at a premium. There were another couple of penalty appeals, on Lavery and Sharp, the one on Sharp seemed fairly blatant near the goal-line but was waved away. United were playing some good stuff now and seemed to be always first to the ball and winning tackles.
The second goal eventually came on 72 minutes and came from one of the best moves of the game. There was some good work from O’Connell and Lafferty down the left and the latter found Sharp in the middle just outside the area. Sharp turned and played the ball into the path of Freeman over-lapping down the right on the far side of the box. Freeman seemingly side-footed the ball low first time and the next thing Blades fans could see, the ball was in the far corner of the goal. It seemed a strange one and although I don’t think any of us who were there knew if it was meant to be a shot or a cross, none of us really cared that much as we took a 2-1 lead! Later replays remain inconclusive, but I reckon he was playing the ball into the path of Lavery, I thought the keeper should have done better as the ball travelled a long way across him at not that much pace, but in his defence, perhaps we was anticipating that Lavery would get to it.
United continued to dominate but Oxford still had a couple of good chances on the break and Moore did well to save low down at almost point blank range. Oxford had a couple of other shots and situations that were well blocked or cut out by the United defenders.
Coutts was harshly booked for a foul, when other worse challenges had not been penalised.
Four minutes later, United put the game beyond reach. Under pressure from the United forwards on the right side of the Oxford area, an Oxford defender attempted to clear but only succeeded in kicking it straight at Freeman, who cleverly turned his man and was about to cut it back from the goal-line a few yards from the post when Nelson brought him down with as blatant a foul as you could wish to see. This time the ref had no option, United were awarded a penalty and Nelson was booked for his trouble.
SHARP smashed home the penalty, reverting to his ploy of hitting it almost straight down the middle. 3-1 to the Blades!
Shortly after, Oxford took off Hall, a bewildering decision, considering he’d been a real threat down the right. They also replaced Hemmings with Martinez at the same time.
Sharp was booked for a blatant foul to prevent an Oxford break.
Two minutes into injury time, Oxford scored a consolation goal. Rothwell played in the unmarked MARTINEZ down the United left and he scored with a good low drive from just inside the area. However the Blades comfortably saw out the last couple of minutes of play.
Full-time : Oxford 2 Blades 3
United – It really was a ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ performance from United. We were poor in the first half and a better side may have taken more advantage than Oxford, who were not great themselves. I felt that through no fault of his, we seemed to just want to knock hopeful balls up to Hanson. Perhaps losing Wright and having to change it unsettled us, but to be honest we played no differently before or after Wright went off. I felt Fleck, particularly was off his game in the first half and he was like a different player in the second. Apart from the marking for the goal, the defence did ok and I think Basham was probably the only player who actually had a good first half.
The second half was completely different and when Lavery came on, it was like the rest of the team realised they were going to have to pass it around and find space, rather than just hit it forward. Once we scored, albeit from our first shot on target, you felt there was only going to be one winner, even though Oxford continued to have chances on the break. You could sense the belief coming back as we were first to the ball, won headers and tackles and everyone wanted the ball again. Fleck, Coutts and Carruthers were controlling the midfield and there was a good attacking understanding between O’Connell and Lafferty down the left as the former constantly found the latter with identical balls, one of which lead to our second goal. The movement up front was much better once Lavery replaced Hanson and Lavery constantly gave Oxford problems with his pace. I think this will give Wilder a dilemma for the Swindon game, whether to stick with Hanson, who to be fair, hasn’t really done anything wrong or start with Lavery, which on the evidence of this game, makes us play better as a team.
Overall, an excellent 3 points away from home against tricky opponents. This was made even more important by the fact that Scunthorpe lost again and now there is an 11 point gap between the Blades and Scunthorpe in 3rd place. We don’t play at the weekend, but blades fans will be very interested in the Fleetwood v Bolton game. Arguably, you could wish for a Fleetwood win to increase the gap between the top two and play-off places, personally I’m hoping for a draw to maintain the gap between and ourselves and Fleetwood to increase our title chances.
Apparently Jake Wright has a nasty gash on his nose. Knill made light of it after the game by saying that it was more serious because Jake has a big nose! I’m sure all Blades fans will be hoping he’s fit for the Swindon game, but will be encouraged by the overall performance of the defence, particularly in the second half.
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Oxford – I didn’t think they were that good. We made them look better than they were in the first half by trying to play the game that suited them, but once we started knocking it around in the second, they couldn’t live with us apart from the odd breakaway. A very typical kind of League One side that knocks it down the channels and relies on the pace of the forwards. Even when we were poor in the first half, apart from the goal which came from a corner, they didn’t trouble Moore very often. They are what they are, a mid-table League One side.
Opponent man of the match : I always struggle to pay much attention to the opposition as I’m concentrating on what our players are doing! However, the No.19, Hall caught my eye. He got the ball out wide on the right a number of times and caused us problems with his skill. I was very surprised (and heartened!) to see him taken off in the second half as I thought he was their main outlet.
Opponent Weak link : I thought a number of their players had anonymous games but probably either Eastwood, the keeper, as he only had about 4 shots to save all gave and we scored with 3 of them, albeit one was a penalty. He didn’t seem to react to the first, even though it seemed quite close to him and he allowed the second to travel not very fast right across him into the far corner. The other was Maguire. Naturally he got dogs abuse from the Blades fans due to his piggy associations and I’m not sure if it affected him at all, but he couldn’t seem to do much right and there was plenty of cheering when he miscontrolled or over-hit passes and free-kicks.
The saying, ‘a game of two halves’ was certainly apt on a wet Tuesday night in Oxford, as the Blades recovered from a poor first half showing and a goal down to record a fine 3-2 win at the Kassam Stadium. Following a similar pattern to the Bolton game, United allowed their opponents to dictate play in the first half and then found success by playing to their own strengths in the second period.
Wilder replaced the injured Duffy by bringing Basham into the midfield to add some steel and restoring Ebanks-Landell to the centre of defence. Following on from their home defeat to Bristol Rovers, Appleton brought back; Nelson, Hall, Hemmings and ex-owl, Chris Maguire.
Despite concerns that the pitch would be ‘another Rochdale’, it didn’t seem too bad, although their appeared to be a number of bobbles and uneven bounces which made it difficult for the players to control it and pass the ball fluidly.
It was pretty poor fare from both sides in the opening exchanges. United forced a corner and then Hanson had a chance from about 15 yards which he ballooned over the top, but overall the Blades struggled to impose themselves. Wright picked up a booking for handball, with Hemmings protesting that he would have been through. Jake Wright picked up a facial injury as Oxford forced a corner and Blades fans were concerned as he received treatment on the pitch for quite some time before play could restart. This clearly unsettled the United defence and from the resultant corner, DUNKLEY got in front of his marker to glance in a header that flew past Moore on 22 minutes.
Carruthers replaced the injured Wright, which meant that Basham reverted to centre back with Carruthers taking Basham’s midfield berth.
United forced a few more corners and Blades supporters howled for a penalty when Freeman appeared to get hauled down, but in truth, the United players didn’t really protest too much. The Blades continue to struggle to get a foothold in the game with Fleck and Coutts both struggling to get their passing going. Fleck in particular seemed to give the ball away or get caught in possession nearly every time he got it. United seemed to have deserted their passing game and resorted to hitting balls up to Hanson in the hope of getting a knock down.
At the other end, Oxford didn’t create much either, although United had one let off when Basham attempted to clear his lines but hit the ball high and it fell dangerously in the United area, Moore got to it but only managed to palm it to an Oxford player and the shot was headed off the line. However the referee blew for an infringement on Moore (one of the few decisions he got right!) and United were awarded a free-kick.
Ledson was shown a yellow card for an awful two footed challenge on Fleck on 37 minutes after the ball had already gone right in front of the away supporters and many thought he could have been shown a straight red.
Half-time arrived with United yet to have a shot on target and Oxford comfortably holding their 1-0 lead.
Half-time : Oxford 1 Blades 0
Wilder had obviously had words with the team at half-time and they started the second half playing much better football. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, our passing was much better, more incisive and accurate and the players touch and control was much improved on the first half. However the Blades still hadn’t mustered a shot on goal and on 53 minutes, Wilder made a change, replacing Hanson with Lavery.
The change immediately paid dividends as United won a corner. Fleck took it and although it wasn’t a great delivery, the Oxford defenders allowed it to travel to SHARP, who did very well to bring the ball under control at waist height and hooked it through a crowd of players and beyond Eastwood in the Oxford goal. United had scored with their first shot on target.
After this, you sensed that there was only one team that was going to win the game as United played their passing game. Fleck and Coutts were much improved and Carruthers again showed some neat skill and touches. Although United were pressing and in control, shots on goal were still at a premium. There were another couple of penalty appeals, on Lavery and Sharp, the one on Sharp seemed fairly blatant near the goal-line but was waved away. United were playing some good stuff now and seemed to be always first to the ball and winning tackles.
The second goal eventually came on 72 minutes and came from one of the best moves of the game. There was some good work from O’Connell and Lafferty down the left and the latter found Sharp in the middle just outside the area. Sharp turned and played the ball into the path of Freeman over-lapping down the right on the far side of the box. Freeman seemingly side-footed the ball low first time and the next thing Blades fans could see, the ball was in the far corner of the goal. It seemed a strange one and although I don’t think any of us who were there knew if it was meant to be a shot or a cross, none of us really cared that much as we took a 2-1 lead! Later replays remain inconclusive, but I reckon he was playing the ball into the path of Lavery, I thought the keeper should have done better as the ball travelled a long way across him at not that much pace, but in his defence, perhaps we was anticipating that Lavery would get to it.
United continued to dominate but Oxford still had a couple of good chances on the break and Moore did well to save low down at almost point blank range. Oxford had a couple of other shots and situations that were well blocked or cut out by the United defenders.
Coutts was harshly booked for a foul, when other worse challenges had not been penalised.
Four minutes later, United put the game beyond reach. Under pressure from the United forwards on the right side of the Oxford area, an Oxford defender attempted to clear but only succeeded in kicking it straight at Freeman, who cleverly turned his man and was about to cut it back from the goal-line a few yards from the post when Nelson brought him down with as blatant a foul as you could wish to see. This time the ref had no option, United were awarded a penalty and Nelson was booked for his trouble.
SHARP smashed home the penalty, reverting to his ploy of hitting it almost straight down the middle. 3-1 to the Blades!
Shortly after, Oxford took off Hall, a bewildering decision, considering he’d been a real threat down the right. They also replaced Hemmings with Martinez at the same time.
Sharp was booked for a blatant foul to prevent an Oxford break.
Two minutes into injury time, Oxford scored a consolation goal. Rothwell played in the unmarked MARTINEZ down the United left and he scored with a good low drive from just inside the area. However the Blades comfortably saw out the last couple of minutes of play.
Full-time : Oxford 2 Blades 3
United – It really was a ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ performance from United. We were poor in the first half and a better side may have taken more advantage than Oxford, who were not great themselves. I felt that through no fault of his, we seemed to just want to knock hopeful balls up to Hanson. Perhaps losing Wright and having to change it unsettled us, but to be honest we played no differently before or after Wright went off. I felt Fleck, particularly was off his game in the first half and he was like a different player in the second. Apart from the marking for the goal, the defence did ok and I think Basham was probably the only player who actually had a good first half.
The second half was completely different and when Lavery came on, it was like the rest of the team realised they were going to have to pass it around and find space, rather than just hit it forward. Once we scored, albeit from our first shot on target, you felt there was only going to be one winner, even though Oxford continued to have chances on the break. You could sense the belief coming back as we were first to the ball, won headers and tackles and everyone wanted the ball again. Fleck, Coutts and Carruthers were controlling the midfield and there was a good attacking understanding between O’Connell and Lafferty down the left as the former constantly found the latter with identical balls, one of which lead to our second goal. The movement up front was much better once Lavery replaced Hanson and Lavery constantly gave Oxford problems with his pace. I think this will give Wilder a dilemma for the Swindon game, whether to stick with Hanson, who to be fair, hasn’t really done anything wrong or start with Lavery, which on the evidence of this game, makes us play better as a team.
Overall, an excellent 3 points away from home against tricky opponents. This was made even more important by the fact that Scunthorpe lost again and now there is an 11 point gap between the Blades and Scunthorpe in 3rd place. We don’t play at the weekend, but blades fans will be very interested in the Fleetwood v Bolton game. Arguably, you could wish for a Fleetwood win to increase the gap between the top two and play-off places, personally I’m hoping for a draw to maintain the gap between and ourselves and Fleetwood to increase our title chances.
Apparently Jake Wright has a nasty gash on his nose. Knill made light of it after the game by saying that it was more serious because Jake has a big nose! I’m sure all Blades fans will be hoping he’s fit for the Swindon game, but will be encouraged by the overall performance of the defence, particularly in the second half.
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Oxford – I didn’t think they were that good. We made them look better than they were in the first half by trying to play the game that suited them, but once we started knocking it around in the second, they couldn’t live with us apart from the odd breakaway. A very typical kind of League One side that knocks it down the channels and relies on the pace of the forwards. Even when we were poor in the first half, apart from the goal which came from a corner, they didn’t trouble Moore very often. They are what they are, a mid-table League One side.
Opponent man of the match : I always struggle to pay much attention to the opposition as I’m concentrating on what our players are doing! However, the No.19, Hall caught my eye. He got the ball out wide on the right a number of times and caused us problems with his skill. I was very surprised (and heartened!) to see him taken off in the second half as I thought he was their main outlet.
Opponent Weak link : I thought a number of their players had anonymous games but probably either Eastwood, the keeper, as he only had about 4 shots to save all gave and we scored with 3 of them, albeit one was a penalty. He didn’t seem to react to the first, even though it seemed quite close to him and he allowed the second to travel not very fast right across him into the far corner. The other was Maguire. Naturally he got dogs abuse from the Blades fans due to his piggy associations and I’m not sure if it affected him at all, but he couldn’t seem to do much right and there was plenty of cheering when he miscontrolled or over-hit passes and free-kicks.
