HALLOWEEN HORROR FOR NINE MAN STEVENAGE

[OUFC4eva]

United provided all the treats at The Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way as nine man Stevenage
were cut to pieces in a Halloween horror show. The U's won by five goals to one but it could have been many more!
Goals from Ryan Taylor (2), Alex MacDonald, Liam Sercombe (pen) and Kemar Roofe saw United go second
in League Two. A poor mistake by Sam Slocombe presented Chris Welpdale with a long range equaliser before
the hosts lost Jamie McCombe (harshly) and Michael Tonge (horror tackle on Lundstram) to red cards.



The goals:

http://www.skysports.com/football/steve ... ort/340826

[YF Dan]

Absolutely sensational performance, I cannot remember us ever dominating a match like that. I was just relentless attacking. A total joy.

I took my neighbour along, an Arsenal fan, and he absolutely loved it and was gobsmacked at how good we were.

We were amazing. I was actually annoyed we only scored five. To think we had two more disallowed, hit the post once, and missed a penalty....so it could have been nine, not even thinking of all the chances we missed.

According to the BBC stats, we had 27 attempts. 27!

[GodalmingYellow]

You wouldn't want to be manager of Braintree Town at the moment!

I'm looking forward to my first visit there.

[YF Dan]

We're so funny.

Our best performance in decades, and no-one comments on it.

[Hog]

Our best performance in decades

I wasn't there Jerome but I suspect Dan is a little over-excited!

[SWA]

List some better performances in the last 20 years Hog? (as you weren't there, games that you can remember as being amazing displays by Oxford).

[Werthers Original]

against eleven men

[YF Dan]

I have never seen such a relentlessly attacking display from an Oxford team, perhaps ever.

My favourite ever game was Wembley II, the best game I've ever seen was Crewe away on the penultimate game of the '96 promotion season; for obscure reasons I was totally uplifted and joyful after our Shotton inspired kids ripped QPR a new a-hole, and were robbed by the ref in a 1-all draw at Loftus Road; and at Southend one year, I took great pleasure in watching Allen, Beauchamp, Durnin and Penney spend an afternoon running amok; while my favourite defeat ever was losing a couple of games later 5-3 at West Ham, when Joey looked every bit the best player in the world.

I've seen big (4-goal margin) wins at Forest Green, Grays, and saw us knock 6 past Halifax at home, but they were awful. I saw Moody score a hatrick off the bench against Burnley in a 5-1 win. I've probably seen other good wins too, although my memory ain't what it used to be.

But I don't think I have never seen us play such a high-tempo and entertaining display. Saturday was the best.

Discuss.

[Dr Bob]

Cannot comment on last Saturday's game. One of my great memories, albeit only for the first 45 minutes, was many years ago against Sheffield United, when Martin Aldridge scored a (first-half?) hat-trick:
http://www.rageonline.co.uk/mainpage/fi ... 996-12-14/

Happy days.

If memory serves me right (increasingly a long shot), both the 6fer against Halifax and the 5fer against Burnley also came against 9 men. That said, both games plus Stevenage showed a ruthlessness and relentlessness that has all too often been absent.

[The OXman Cometh]

My favourite ever game was the 2-1 win over Newcastle in the league cup in 83. The football Oxford played that night especially in the first half was awesome, Newcastle could not get the ball out of their own half for most of the game, and it was U's who had the man sent off.

[YF Dan]

I remember in both Burnley and Halifax matches, we were clinging on for a while in both...in fact, the Burnley match was an absolute travesty scoreline wise..but they folded in the last 10 and Moody was on fire.

Whereas against Stevenage, they had about two minutes of pressure after the break, when Slocombe made a decent save. Other than that, we should and could have had 10+.

[Jimski]

There was an insane 6-0er against Shrewsbury in the 95/96 promotion season. But all the home games in that great run get mixed up in my head. All I can really remember is feeling utterly exhilarated.

[neilw]

I agree with Oxman regarding the first half against Newcastle in 83. Kicking towards the London Road; the best football ever played, by any team, anywhere!

(Ok, a slight exaggeration perhaps, but only a bit

[Kernow Yellow]

4-1 away at Pompey

4-0 away at Brentford

Both pretty recent, and neither against nine men. Both top, top performances.

Glad to hear Saturday was good too, though I must say watching the highlights their first sending off (and therefore the resulting penalty for us to take the lead) looks very harsh, and Taylor could easily have walked himself for bloodying the Stevenage player's face with his arm while jumping. Might have been a different game then perhaps?

[Radley Rambler]

4-1 away at Pompey

4-0 away at Brentford

Both pretty recent, and neither against nine men. Both top, top performances.

Glad to hear Saturday was good too, though I must say watching the highlights their first sending off (and therefore the resulting penalty for us to take the lead) looks very harsh, and Taylor could easily have walked himself for bloodying the Stevenage player's face with his arm while jumping. Might have been a different game then perhaps?

I don't think it would have been, we were so, so superior. I'm always a pessimist with OUFC (due mainly to 30 years of general disappointment) but my gosh did we rip them apart last Saturday. After 5 minutes play, it was clear there was only going to be one winner.