TRANMERE

Journey

I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to this one with much relish. Bottom two and “losing doesn’t bear thinking about” was being thought about. The temperature might have been above average for the time of the year but it was nevertheless a grey day as we set out early to try and beat the road works that multiply by the week in Oxfordshire. And we only live in Bicester. We tried the M40, and after a slight diversion for lunch in the Cricketer’s Arms in Littleworth, having negotiated the bloody multiple speed bumps in Wheatley, we parked up in Grenoble Road to the East of the ground with plenty of time to spare. This isn’t where we usually park but soon realised there were dog turds aplenty between the car and the Kassam Stadium. Time for Oxford’s Dog Warden to pay a visit and collect a tidy sum in fines?

Missing men

When the teams were announced with Tom Newey, Brian Howard and Junior Brown not even being on the bench eyebrows were raised. Rumours were circulating that they, along with the already apparently frozen out David Hunt, had been told to stay away. In the post match interview Michael Appleton briefly covered this but gave no real clues as to what had gone on behind closed doors. We do know that at the beginning of the week there had been a post Cambridge massacre meeting.

Howard, after initially looking the business, has left a few question marks and fan discussion has come up with “he’s got a bit of an attitude problem” and “he’s not as good as he thinks he is”. Brown, who gave some verbals when replaced at the Abbey Stadium, for me is one of those players who does a bit but is very easy to accuse of flattering to deceive. Newey I feel sorry for. I think he is a tremendous professional. Solid and knows the game even if on a few occasions will get done by a tricky nippy winger.

Given the nature of the game I thought it was experience we needed not young loanees, particularly in defensive positions. That said, I was naturally going to give soon to be 19 years old Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (THD) my support. Mapp had mentioned this DNA thing in his interview and my interpretation was that he thought Newey, who of course signed a new contract under Gary Waddock, does not have what is required.

The Match

With Micky Adams looking on I was expecting a better display from the Merseysiders. That said there wasn’t anything in it until we scored our first. We’d done the usual, retaining possession by knocking the ball about short. It was in dangerous areas but unfortunately the danger was mostly to ourselves as this was done largely in our own half. The players are definitely comfortable on the ball at the back but it takes just one cock up and you can find yourself a goal down. We gifted Tranmere such a chance but they’re not very good and failed to take advantage.

I was beginning to get quite frustrated with this but liked what we were doing further up the pitch on 28 minutes. I’d turned to my wife and said “best move yet” even before Tyrone Barnett had finished it. THD’s cross field pass found Barnett, who laid the ball into the advancing Danny Hylton’s path. I thought Hylton had knocked it too far ahead but 90% skill and probably 10% luck got him past the defender and he was then able to play a perfect ball back to Barnett who had continued his run. Only one touch was needed and we were in front.

It was something of a surprise that it took until 73 minutes to get the second goal because once in the lead we were the better team by some distance. Barnett was denied a second before the break when Peter Brezovan rushed from his goal to save bravely.

On 64 minutes we hit the bar. When I say we, I mean they hit the bar for us. The defender who did it was the one who looks like Gupta, Angelos Epithemiou’s side-kick. With Joe Riley about to deliver the ball into the box it was greatly encouraging that we had three players, Barnett, Hylton and Callum O’Dowda, with their hands in the air wanting it. It was the latter who got it and did really well to knock it back into the six yard box for a tap in for Hylton. I was on my feet celebrating the goal when the ball somehow hit the bar. On the face of it, it was the sitter of all sitters. Watching it again on the TV revealed the truth which was that it was an amazing, if incredibly lucky, piece of defending with our man getting no touch on the ball at all.

Hylton wasn’t to blame for that one but his next miss was a tap in. Another ball in from Riley instead of being tapped again wasn’t touched but it mattered not because the on rushing Alfie Potter finished perfectly. Game over.

So why, or should that be how, did we win and keep a clean sheet?

It partly has to be down to how atrocious Tranmere were. I particularly noted on a couple of occasions the ineptitude of their defence in dealing with high balls when no Oxford player was anywhere near them. Instead of comfortably retaining possession for their team it was a throw in for us, thank you very much.

But it’s more than that. If I knew for sure what our formation was I might claim that it was that. Some have said it was the usual 4-2-3-1, others that we had gone 4-4-2. I know we had a four and a two, Michael Collins and Andy Whing, in the centre of midfield but whether they were just a two or part of a four, I don’t know. Perhaps we were 4-4-1-1, or 4-5-1. Does it matter? Players move about.

Whatever, Whingy’s return made a difference. He is the sort of player you want in front of the back four. He seemed to be puffing and blowing after a quarter of an hour and an early mistimed tackle gave credence to a comment near me that he is no way fit. To Whing’s credit he remained on the field for the entirety.

There were plenty of other positives too.

Never get carried away having seen a player perform just the once, but what a prospect THD looked in his first ever league game. He was comfortable on the ball, knew how to defend properly and certainly wasn’t frightened to tackle. He also put his foot right through the ball when that was the best option.

The way Jake Wright stood up to the bigger Kayode Odejayi helped establish which team were to go on and boss the game. From where I was sitting through my biased glasses I saw an elbow smash our captain in the face. I thought it looked deliberate. The way Wright reacted at the time I thought he thought so too. He could have gone down but didn’t. The referee and linesman were looking on but did nothing. After the game Wright wrote it off as one of those things; an accident. Generous, because Odejayi didn’t do it just the once. Whing does not go down easily but when he got similar treatment decided to have a little lie down; probably to make a point and to have a little rest.

Barnett is improving and one can tell there’s more to come. He should be a handful for any defence at this level. There are times when he doesn’t look interested but then he springs to life. Hopefully a clever ploy, and nothing else. The job he does helping us defend corners should not be overlooked and there were signs of a developing partnership with Hylton. When was the last time we had a really effective partnership we could rely on game after game? Hylton too had a good game.

And then there was Alfie Potter. It was crystal clear from his first touch that this was the Alfie of old, not the one that returned from injury last time around. He could soon have COD’s position on that showing. O’Dowda did some good things yesterday but at times the ball pinged off him and there is an argument that he is a bit lightweight. He looked quite happy when he was substituted. A rest might do him good.

Belief?

I’ll be honest and admit that until it was pointed out that we’ve won three and drawn one at the Kassam I had not appreciated that we currently have decent home form. But I’ll start believing when we’ve seen off some teams from the upper echelons of League Two on our own patch and when we win some games on our travels. We’ve got the players.

Next Up

On Tuesday it’s off to Chris Wilder’s Cobblers. It’s all quite strange because they’ve let in one more goal than we have but scored 9 more. Remind me again of the footballing philosophies of our current and former manager. But a stat that interests me more is that if we win we’ll be only two points behind Northampton. We’ve got the players.

Then it’s Carlisle. I’ll be at a wedding so won’t be doing another fan’s view for a while. But if anyone else wants to give a different view, the opportunity is there.