FAN’S VIEW 23/24 – NO.4

LEAGUE ONE: DERBY COUNTY 1 OXFORD UNITED 2

Having rated our performances against both Cambridge and Bristol City a mere 3 out of 10 it is only fair to do likewise now we’ve considerably upped our game. Carlisle was a substantial step in the right direction but what we did here went up to a different level. I’ll go NINE. Not a ten because perfection is very rarely achieved on the football pitch and having made two subs in the 87^th minute, we conceded immediately when we didn’t defend a long throw launched into our box. What is it they say? “Never make changes when defending a set piece” Perhaps throw-ins don’t count? They should though but it would be ungracious to dwell on anything negative when there was so much to admire about this display.

The two pubs visited on this trip were within little more than a 100 yards of each other. The first, the Derby Brewing Tap House, a curved building in similar style to the wonderful Brunswick, underwent a mini refurbishment and was relaunched under its current name in April 2022. I had one of their own beers and my mate opted for a darker ale from an independent. A few sips in I was thinking this isn’t as well kept as most beers I sample on my travels. The same verdict was given on the dark beer.

The DBTH isn’t listed in the 2023 Good Beer Guide. Just round the corner the Exeter Arms is. This establishment is owned by Marstons and run by the Dancing Duck Brewery and a pint of their Ay Up told why they are in the GBG. High quality local food is available from the in-house Secret Dining Co. which is run by former punk rocker Martin Roper. He was a founder of Anti-Pasti who back in the day supported bands such as the Clash and the UK Subs. Some punk memorabilia hung on the walls in one of the small alcoves but it was packed and there were people eating in there so although I would have liked to have had a closer look it would have been intrusive and rude to have done so. In fact the whole pub was quite packed, which it deserved to be.

A group of Derby fans who left just before us were discussing the outcome of the 90 minutes ahead. 3 – 0 was the feeling. I was tempted to butt in with either “who to?” or “I bet you don’t” but I didn’t. Instead I said “favourites to win L1 then, teams your size always go back up” then added “eventually” when one of them said “don’t know about that”.

Much closer to Pride Park a different collective of home supporters were also going “3 – 0”.

With over 25,000 inside it was a cracking and quite intimidating atmosphere with all but about 1000 rooting for the Rams and no doubt expecting them to turn over little old Oxford United. Good home support in terms of numbers and noise, but it has to be noted a few were offski when we got our second. Our support was also excellent although I find the “Derby’s a shit-hole, I wanna go home” song tiresomely embarrassing.

Quite a pleasant place I’d say

It was evident from the first whistle that we weren’t going to be intimidated by the sizeable gathering.

We were so well organised and that provided the base from which we were able to play some quality fluid football. One Derby fan on social media said “Oxford passed us off the park”. Well, yes and no. Our movement of the ball was superior to theirs but they had 56% possession and made 420 passes to our 357. We just edged it in the accuracy stats 73% to 70% and in the opponents half 60% to 58%. But the key is the type of pass, what areas of the pitch they’re played in and do they give the team without the ball much to get concerned about?

In this we moved the ball quickly, we played as a team, the man in possession had options and there was no running into blind alleys due to greed or there being nothing on. It clicked. We witnessed a team performance from everyone.

Defensively we largely bossed the Derby attack and despite them having 15 corners I didn’t feel as worried as I have done in the past when high balls are played into our box. Elliott Moore was again winning headers and the entire back line played very well. They won tackles, they made blocks and they passed the ball about showing that they can also play possession football. It wasn’t just the defence though, the whole team did the defensive work required all over the park. This defending was often done deep when free-kicks were played in and we showed no desire to come rushing out after making the first clearance if the ball was picked up by a white shirt. How we were playing was obviously working but someone stood right behind me insisted we should “push up” every time this happened. If I had a quid for every time he shouted this it would have covered the cost of my entrance fee.

It was so pleasing to see us winning the battles and looking a genuine threat going forward. With Derby struggling to contain us they had to resort to foul means to do so and had clocked up three yellow cards by half time. Well done to referee Ben Toner for this but not for his ignoring of the pull back on Mark Harris in the box with 27 minutes gone. Instead of comfortably dealing with an Oxford attack Sonny Bradley and Kane Wilson got into a mess leaving our man goal side with only keeper Joe Wildsmith facing him. A Bradley pull of Harris’s left shoulder and he was on the floor. Harris though was to have the last laugh and some. He not only found the back of the net twice with some top finishing but again showed really intelligent reading of the game and ability to find space. Plus he showed that he wasn’t going to be bullied.

A few minutes on from the not given penalty we had the lead. Curtis Nelson, thinking it was the 2018/19 season, passed straight to Cameron Brannagan. With space ahead he drove into it before finding Harris, who had cleverly drifted just to the right of the facing Derby back line. His first touch set up the second perfectly, the ball thumped home at the near post.

Before the interval James Beadle had to push a header over the bar and then from a corner produce a fantastic reaction save to keep his goal intact.

We could have had a couple more before the second goal duly arrived.

The alert Harris nicked the ball but his pass to Billy Bodin, who had broken with him, needed to have pin-point accuracy and it didn’t. Faced with four defenders BB couldn’t sort his feet out to make it a good pass and the shot trickled harmlessly wide.

His next effort on goal was better and came after a flowing Oxford move.  Sam Long, cutting out a ball down the wing, turned it to Marcus McGuane. Instead of playing the way he was facing – backwards – MM turned and with the outside of his right foot flipped a pass between two white shirts finding Ruben Rodrigues who had replaced Tyler Goodrham after 57 minutes. RR slotted it perfectly to Marcus Browne who was rapidly progressing down the flank. Once inside the box the ball was moved on to BB who with expert tight control got it onto his left foot and placed a shot which Wildsmith had to palm away for a corner.

That McGuane started here and had a tremendous game instead of Josh McEachran, who had been a different class against Carlisle, informs that we now have genuine strength in depth. Also RR not starting and Stan Mills not even getting on tells that too.

More assured fluent football brought the second goal. There won’t be many better created in L1 this season by any side. Ciaron Brown collected the ball after a Harris shot was blocked and from there we built a ten pass move with six players involved. Technically it could be argued that Harris’s lay back to BB was actually played by Nelson who got a toe in, but our no.9 was protecting the ball in such a way that a touch from our ex-player was only going to put it where we wanted it to go anyway so I’m claiming it as an Oxford pass. This move was sublime and the finish, along with his first, hinted that we may have a top striker on the books. I may have made a potentially silly statement to my son the other day when I said that Rodrigues would score more for us than Harris this season.

With 28 minutes plus added time still to go it was way too early to be heading for the corner flag. Knowing that Derby wouldn’t just lie down we needed to keep our shape, keep playing the way we had been and not take any risks.

Long preserved our two goal advantage when heading over the bar after Beadle had come for the ball but failed to get it.

Not long after our keeper had tipped another over the bar, the lead we held was halved. In the 87^th minute Gatlin O’Donkor and McEachran came on for Mark Harris and Marcus Browne. Without being privilege to the performance stats that were being monitored, I could understand the introduction of O’Donkor given his corner flag play against Carlisle, but didn’t think this was the time for a player of McEachran’s talents. Yes, never make changes before a set piece. Call a throw hurled into the box a set piece.

In it came and McEachran got his head to the ball but that did nothing to alter its flight so it carried on towards Martyn Waghorn who put it away.

With three minutes remaining and then those added, which turned out to be seven, 10 in total had potential to seem more like 100.

No way did we deserve to drop points but football can be a cruel game and if the Rams had fashioned another goal that’s what would have happened at a minimum. We were doing nothing at the other end of the field and we’d sacrificed a lot of pace with those last changes.

With no apparent outlet we did live dangerously. Derby had a handball shout for a penalty and Nelson headed a corner towards goal which sub Connor Washington should really have turned in.

But a win it was and fully merited too.

These fans went home very happy

What a difference a week makes. Roller coasterish already.

Walking back to the car on a street where the crowds had very much thinned out there were two lads, one of whom was wearing a Derby shirt, looking lost. “Are you from Derby?” they asked. When we said no they backed that up with “Oxford?” It was clear they weren’t English and wanted to know where the city centre was. Before we’d had time to ask where they hailed from one volunteered “we’re from Rome”. “Roma fan?” I questioned. “I am, he’s Lazio.” They said they’d enjoyed the game and that Oxford were the better team. We pointed to a sign post that pointed to the city centre and wished them well as we disappeared into the night. A fleeting chance encounter but football just connects people world-wide. There’s nothing else like it.