FAN’S VIEW 23/24 – NO.5

LEAGUE ONE: BARNSLEY 1 OXFORD UNITED 3

Two very poor displays (Cambridge and Bristol City) at the start of the season did not, however it may have felt at the time, mean we were doomed.  Similarly the massive improvement against Carlisle followed by the superb performance at Derby does not mean we’re now without doubt going to get automatic promotion. When we’re on a high as we are now, any rational fan will be reminding themselves that there will be ups and down and loss of form from time to time as we progress through the months of the 23/24 season.

That said if you can’t enjoy life as a Yellow at the moment you never will and I have to say now we’ve clocked up three league wins on the spin in the way we have I can’t remember when I last felt this positive about what OUFC were producing on the park.

Being honest I thought in terms of numbers our support was quite disappointing but well done to the 620 who did attend and got behind the team vocally from start to finish. I think those present will have sensed there’s something building.

It is though going to be a common theme that whilst the “(Insert wherever we may be) is a shit-hole, I wanna go home” chant persists, I shall point out no it is not.

Barnsley is clearly a very tight knit community and one that locals will be very proud to be part of. Walking around the town centre I only saw the red shirts of their football club, nothing Premier League in sight. That’s a good thing. Warms the heart.

The pubs visited were ones we’ve been to in this locale previously. First up was the Heaven and Ale where, just four months ago, it had been top banter and beer from the moment we stepped through the door. Still decent this time but not quite the same.  The owner, a Sheffield Wednesday fan, wasn’t behind the bar and the beer wasn’t quite as good, partly my fault though for picking an amber ale which isn’t my favourite style. I should have perused the hand pumps more carefully.  Just before leaving we had a chat with a home fan and it was obvious that he didn’t have total confidence in his team. That made me more optimistic as to the outcome later that afternoon.

Next it was on to the Old No.7. Ten years ago the Times listed it as one of the top 16 pubs in the country saying “The attentive staff and well-run bar attract a broad clientele including circuit drinkers, football fans and beer connoisseurs, who are all made equally welcome.” Probably pretty much the same now, it was quite packed with many red shirts on the premises and there was an extensive range of ales on offer. I again opted for one which wasn’t fully to my taste. My fault, not the quality of the beer.

We left the No.7 by a back way but strangely it didn’t bring us onto a street but straight to a door into another bar. If the bouncers on the door were counting bodies in and out we would have confused them.

A jolly time in the Jolly Tap

Our final stop off point before the main event was the Jolly Tap on the Arcade which was very close by. On the day the best of the three establishments in my opinion. Quite a few Oxford fans in there and the landlady said she remembered us from last season. Well, it was only four months ago.

In places like Barnsley there’s no need to plot the course to the ground on google maps; just follow the crowds. Given their attire you won’t accidentally end up at the cinema, theatre or a Barnsley whippet club meeting.

It’s like a Lowry scene only modern day. The route takes you through the railway station and as the ground comes into view the anticipation grows. Generally I don’t like the colour red. Mainly because I have a degree of red and green colour blindness and a little bit because of the team down the other end of the A420. There is however something warming and homely about the red painted bricks of Barnsley FC’s home. None of your modern breeze block nonsense.

It was indeed a day to think of the past. To think of Parky the legendary TV presenter who had died just three days earlier. He was very much a Yorkshireman, a Barnsley man. Skinner Normanton, anyone?

Yes, this close

Tim, our driver, who after the Heaven and Ale went and parked his wagon closer to the ground before meeting up again in the Jolly Tap had informed us he had got quite close. Quite close? I don’t know how he does it. Might as well have been on the centre circle. I was back home in Bicester by 7:30.

The stats for this game read thus: Possession – Barnsley 56%, Oxford 44%. Passes – Barnsley 468, Oxford 372. Passing accuracy – Barnsley 78%, Oxford 70% and in opponents half, Barnsley 60%, Oxford 57%.

That may suggest to some that they had the edge and that as a passing possession based team we were unable to dictate the game as we wanted. I would though ask the question are we actually a possession based team that wants to dominate the ball? I don’t think we are. I’ve now concluded there’s more to Liam Manning than that. When we’ve got the ball, yes try and keep it. Which we did. And I have to say, like at Derby, there was an intent to get it forward and attack at pace when the opportunity arose. Not sideways and backwards stuff for the sake of it. No worries that the opposition have the ball if you’ve got good shape and are making it very difficult for them to find a way through. Part of our game plan was to do this and wait for them to make a mistake where we could nick the ball and break.

That’s what happened eight minutes in. We’d seen little of the ball. Barnsley were knocking it about. One touch, two touch stuff.  We weren’t diving in and giving free-kicks away. We were patient. Then Marcus McGuane blocked an attempted pass half way inside the Barnsley half. Billy Bodin chested the ball back to him and with his second touch he found Marcus Browne, who ran with speedy intent into the box where Mael Durand de Gevigney tripped him. Not for the last time in the game we were that bit more alert and on it than they were. The iFollow commentator spotted the “lazy boot in”.

Penalties won count for nothing unless they are converted. Cameron Brannagan did so confidently sending keeper Liam Roberts the wrong way.

We needed to defend in numbers and also rely on poor finishing from red shirts to retain this early advantage. Stephan Negru put out a boot to send a ball into the six yard area over the bar for a corner. On another day the outcome might have been worse. Then Andrew Dallas should have done much better for the Tykes sending the ball out towards the corner flag to his right from not very far out at all. With his left foot firmly planted he never set his body correctly to get a proper shot away.

We were dangerous though and if Mark Harris had been wearing the same shooting boots as at Pride Park we would have come away with more goals. It wasn’t that he was bad but the deadliness wasn’t there. James Beadle cleared long and Bodin won the ball which was collected by Ruben Rodrigues, a 27^th minute replacement for the injured Browne. This was another swift attack. He moved the ball right to Harris but the resulting left foot shot was straight at Roberts. Pleasingly Bodin and Stan Mills were up with the attack too.

Before the half was out we got away with another one. A free-kick for a McGuane shirt pull was cut back to Adam Phillips instead of being crossed into the penalty area. We’d not marked their no.30 who was able to fire a shot goal-wards. Beadle went down by his post and instead of collecting the ball in assured fashion fumbled it around the post. Things like this don’t seem to faze him though.

Less than ten minutes into the second period we got a second. Cameron Brannagan won a header, the ball finding its way to Sam Long who, with the outside of his boot, touched it to Mills just inside the Barnsley half. He was right on the touch line and this was good old fashioned wing play. Two men came across to him but he was away, past Nicky Cadden and then putting the ball one side and going the other to leave Liam Kitching behind. And just like that he was on the edge of the six yard box to the right of the goal. I’d not thought he’d done a huge amount up to then but this was something else. He looked like a sprinter who could control a football as he went. A sprinter who was still only in second or third gear. The pass across the face of goal would have been put in by Bodin if Jordan Williams had not done so on our behalf.

We were at it again when Tyler Goodrham, a replacement for Mills just after the hour, robbed a defender who’d had the ball rolled out to him by Roberts. He set up Harris for what looked like a gimme. It was a good recovery by their stopper though who rushed to fling himself and give away just a corner. Four days earlier that would have been hammered home – or perhaps the difference is left foot and right foot.

At 3-0 the game would have been done and dusted. At 2-1 it certainly wasn’t and that’s what the score became in the 70^th minute. A little bit worryingly from a corner. Given how well our centre halves have been playing and how tall our keeper is this is a little bit baffling. Devante Cole, the scorer, appeared to be unmarked.

Naturally I did have some concern but this team we’ve got now isn’t going to collapse and whilst the home support were that bit more behind their team, I didn’t sense a collective belief from them that they would turn the game around. Perhaps there’s still a hangover from the Wembley play-off final defeat in May with that Josh Windass header for the Owls in the final seconds of added time at the end of extra time.

They did come within a whisker of equalising. This had me wondering if the better / best teams in L1 would have done us in such situations. But who are these teams? Time will tell as the season progresses but for now we’re led to believe that it is the likes of Derby and Barnsley.

Jonathan Russell played the ball across the face of our goal and Cole just had to slide in and slip it home. He slid in but didn’t connect. Phew!

It was end to end stuff. We were as likely as them to score.

From a corner Negru got in a powerful header that looked every bit a goal until Roberts, at full stretch, pulled off a brilliant save.

Still not plain sailing though. From an Oxford corner we lost the ball about 25 yards from the Barnsley goal with McGuane and Rodrigues perhaps trying to be too intricate in the circumstances, the latter losing the ball. This time it was the red shirts on the break with Cole being the sprinter. Bearing down on goal coming in from the right he couldn’t quite cut the ball back enough to avoid Beadle’s body as he made himself big and narrowed the angle. Phew!

With three minutes of the 90 left the deal was sealed. Ciaron Brown took a very long throw down the line from which Gatlin O’Donkor touched the ball round Kacper Lopata. Our youngster was brought down as he did so. I was yelling for a free-kick. Rodrigues was appealing for a free-kick. Referee Martin Coy either didn’t think it was a foul or played an excellent advantage. With Kitchin taking a split second to react, Goodrham had got goal side of him. Facing Roberts with Kitchin now unable to do anything, our no. 19 rolled his foot over the ball as if to go left and past the keeper. Only it wasn’t a dribble it was a finish. An impish finish from an impish player.

I feel a need to bang out a bit on G O’D here. Thus far I’ve admired his physicality, the way he puts himself about and his holding up of the ball in the corners when the clock needs running down. It’s his touch and ability to score goals that I’ve wondered about. He’s not 19 until October which is quite something so there’s plenty of time for him to learn and hone his craft.

I’ve got a soft spot for many of our players and he’s one of them. On Thursday I had the privilege of going to the open training session at Horspath Road. Wow. I’ve been there before but have not had a close up of the players in this environment which is where all the preparation for match day takes place. Splitting the first team into two groups, one with more minutes under their belts than the other. Setting their goals accordingly. A drone over-head monitoring. GPS monitoring too, detecting which players have not quite hit certain maximums. Various games on small pitches where touch and control are everything. No time to draw breath with a replacement ball being thrown on the second one goes out of play. And that touch and control was shown by every single player. Including G O’D.  We’ll see that in L1 too someday soon.

It was also very pleasing to see Alex Gorrin participating at the same level as all the other guys. He could certainly still do a job for a L1 club if they’re looking for the type of player he is.

The whole set up could not have been more professional. Then there were the youngsters under the watchful eye of Chris Hackett and others. 11 a side game on a full sized pitch. Stopped every now and then for instructions to be taken on board.

The future looks bright. This set-up is spot on. But WE NEED THE TRIANGLE. OXFORDSHIRE NEEDS THE TRIANGLE.

At full time