Category Archives: O

The Free Tick

01 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 28th January 2014 ko 20.00

Friendly

OAKHAM UNITED 1 (Eason)

YAXLEY 7 (Carter 10 77 87 Hook 34 72 Cooke 67 Whaley 86p)

Att 7

At Uppingham Community College 3G pitch, Uppingham, Rutland

Entry FREE

No Programme

There aren’t many advantages of this lousy weather, but a game on a ground not usually used is a bonus. Oakham booked the college pitch, watched as one opponent pulled out then found Yaxley as a late replacement. It offered a tick not usually available, although with Oakham’s ground waterlogged this pitch is set to be used for league games. The Peterborough & District League have none of the hang-ups over a good artificial surface that the Conference do. I am indebted to uber-hopper Brian Buck for alerting Lee West and I to this fixture. Continue reading →

Exit North

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in O

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Saturday 25th January 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Smalley 6)

TORQUAY UNITED 0

Att 4,744 (322 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

There are some advantages of writing this article a few days after the event, Saturday was nothing if not bizarre!

On the pitch, it was a routine Chris Wilder game, dull, uninspiring, against a team in desperate trouble at the bottom of the table. The one bright moment was Deane Smalley’s well-taken goal, but many eyes were less on the pitch and more on the home dugout. Continue reading →

Life on Coventry Street

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in O

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 11th January 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

PORTSMOUTH 0

Att 8,443 (2,365 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (incl Oxford Mail)

If you look at a standard London Monopoly board and find the Water Works, you’ll find that one of the adjoining properties is Coventry Street. Given that Oxford United’s ground is close to Thames Water’s treatment works, that fact seems apposite for United, especially as the property is coloured yellow…. Continue reading →

The Silver Bullet

29 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Thursday 26th December 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Hall 66 Nelson 88og)

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 3 (Lavery 46 Reid 81p 97)

Att 10,049 (699 away)

then

Saturday 29th December 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0 Smalley missed pen 83

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 2 (Burton 11 Syers 71) Burton missed pen 39

Att 6,009 (527 away)

Entry S/T

Programmes £3 each

Normally I don’t lump games together, but since the games, and results were so similar if seems daft not to do so.

On Boxing Day, the club pulled out all the stops to get a bumper crowd. The styled “Big Match,” saw an opera singer, and pyrotechnics to help create an electric atmosphere, and the cute marketing created a 5-digit crowd primed to watch Oxford United push on towards promotion. Except the team let down everyone by producing a performance so lack-lustre than all Plymouth had to do was wait for the defensive errors and pick United off. Asa Hall’s 30-yard blast was a brief highlight in a poor display. Continue reading →

Ginger Spice

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 14th December 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Constable 8 Kitson 90)

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1 (Murphy 45)

Att 4,091 (194 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

This game saw something unusual for OUFC manager Chris Wilder, he actually had to pick the team! With Michael Raynes, Sean Rigg restored to fitness and loanee Asa Hall eligible, the side looked far more like the side top of League 2, and in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

There was one massive surprise though, and that is that the visitors tried to play United at their own passing game. Ask any Oxford United fan how to beat the U’s at Grenoble and you’ll get the same answer. Stifle the midfield, and in particular Dave Kitson, then counter-attack where you can. It worked for Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth, and its got to the point where I settle into my seat expecting more of the same.

Continue reading →

Peter O’Toole

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

I’m sad to hear that Peter O’Toole has died.

I met him once a long time ago while I was in my second year at Uni, and was playing cricket for the University of North London team.

We had a regular Friday net at Lords’ indoor school and I was bowling my usual ugly leg-spin when I noticed someone famous in the net to our left. It was O’Toole, his son Lorcan, and the young man’s school friends. The actor had just been successful in a custody battle for the boy, and neither I or the rest of our team would have paid him much notice until he came into our net and very politely asked us to stop playing for a minute.

We acquiesced and he borrowed a bat and ball and got his party to stand back in his net. He whacked the ball against the net, making it bulge back into his net by a foot or two.

“There,” he said, “That’s why you don’t stand right against the net!”

And with that he returned to his party, and I returned to my forlorn attempts to perfect my “Wrong ‘un.”

He never did return to that net and we’d booked it for I think, 12 weeks. He was a perfect gentleman and I did allow myself a little knowing smile when I saw him in the film, “Venus,” a few years ago. He really was playing against type, judging by the chap I encountered in the early 90’s.

Rest In Peace Peter.

It’s All About You

29 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by in O

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 24th November 2013 ko 19.45

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

NEWPORT COUNTY 0

Att 5,042 (437 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (including Oxford Mail)

Every football fan should have a small corner for Newport County AFC. Not so much for the Newport County, who sank out of the Football League in 1988, and were bankrupt with debts of £330,000 less than a season later, but for the trials and tribulations that befell the reformed club, Newport AFC, that started life in June 1989.

From the outset the aim was always to regain their Football League status, but the new club found a major obstacles in their path.  They played one season in the Gloucestershire village of Moreton-in-Marsh http://wp.me/p1PehW-qP, due to a dispute over the old club’s unpaid rent at Somerton Park before returning to their old ground. Continue reading →

Shelled

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Saturday 23rd November 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Constable 15 Rigg 24 Williams 31)

MORECAMBE 0

Att 4,871 (92 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

For the first time this season you could feel the chill wind at Grenoble Road. Obviously the weather was the major quotient, but a sparse crowd, and poor home form were factors. In fact, with a growing injury list too it was easy to forget that Oxford United were and are top of League 2. Nothing I saw from 3pm onwards made me think that statistic was likely to change. Continue reading →

Backlash

06 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 2nd November 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 (O’Toole 71p)

Att 6,374 (862 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (incl’ Oxford Mail)

I’ve got used to professional footballers’ interviews with radio stations, the media training tends to remove anything of interest. So OUFC’s Dave Kitson’s interview on Radio Oxford was a welcome breath of fresh air even if, in time the FA disrepute charge will cost him in one form or another.

He described referee Mark Brown as, Continue reading →

Thunder & Lightenings

24 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 ko 19.45

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0 Kitson sent off 90 (2nd Booking)

EXETER CITY 0

Att 5,083 (362 away)

Entry S/T

Programme (including Oxford Mail) £3

It is a footballing maxim that when a game matters, it normally ends up being a draw. Although this goal-less draw wasn’t the stereotypical bore draw, in fact in was a fine spectacle, it was just as frustrating as one.

With City 3rd and United 4th the game was set-up beautifully, and despite a spectacular thunderstorm throughout the first half the pitch held up perfectly. Thankfully the itinerant Welsh rugby enthusiasts haven’t managed to chew up the pitch as yet this season. A good job too as both sides played good passing football, just without any tangible end product.

The major talking point will inevitably be the dismissal of Dave Kitson. Whilst its clear he’s Continue reading →