Wirral Oxford

[Radley Rambler]

It’s Bolton’s first home game of any significance since their rescue and takeover. 9,000 fans turned up for a tinpot trophy game a couple of weeks ago. The place will be rocking tonight.

On top of that Keith Hill is a decent manager. He will have been stung by saturday’s result and be making damn sure it doesn’t happen again. Bolton’s team may not have played together much but they’re not kids any more. I’ll happily take a scrappy 1-0. In fact I might even take a point!

They've also got both main strikers out tonight - breathe easy - 4-0 to us I'm telling you.

Sets himself up for fall...……………………….

Bugger.

However:

One team looked fitter
One team looked like they wanted it more
One team could pass to their own men
One team didn't just hoof it aimlessly from the back on many occasions
One team broke in numbers (at least in the first half)
One team tested the opposition keeper on numerous occasions

That team wasn't us.

[Hog]

Classic post match interview by Gobbo Mr Robinson who didn't have a clue. Hopeless.

[OtmoorYellow]

You might have thought I should have known better after all these years.

That was one of the worst performances i’ve Seen from OUFC. The only Oxford player who did their job properly, was Simon Eastwood.

Bolt-on wanted it more, though they relied on fast breakaways using 2 very quick players against our shipping tanker back line. We were literally second best everywhere.

A truly shocking night of football against a very basic opposition and two points dropped, rather than the official site’s one point gained nonsense. The club should be apologising for this one.

Great ground though.

[Kernow Yellow]

One team looked fitter
One team looked like they wanted it more
One team could pass to their own men
One team didn't just hoof it aimlessly from the back on many occasions
One team broke in numbers (at least in the first half)
One team tested the opposition keeper on numerous occasions

That team wasn't us.

I'm not sure Bolton looked fitter. They started at a million miles an hour but once we'd weathered the opening 30 minutes I was disappointed we didn't go on to win, as Bolton looked out on their feet at times. They did have some good players on display though, which is why pre-match predictions of 6 or 7 nil seemed so ridiculous to me. Buckley, Chicksen, Lowe, Bridcutt, Hobbs, Wright etc bring some serious experience with them, much of it above L1 level.

But we didn't play well. It is alarming how we lose our shape when the opposition have the ball - the number of times that we let Bolton advance from the halfway line to the edge of our area without even looking like making a challenge is a big worry. It's all very well our forwards pressing the ball, but the midfield need to join in!

That's two games in a row of seemingly aimless hoofing too. And the defence looked sloppy at times. That pass across his own backline from Dickie late on was utterly criminal, and the fullbacks had a pretty torrid time. I've previously been impressed by Cadden's attacking instincts, but his crossing last night was consistently poor (as well as being caught too far up the pitch whenever we lost the ball).

I don't see what others rate in Gorrin - he just seems caught out of position a lot. Likewise Woodburn, who didn't get involved enough. Henry was off the pace, Fosu was trying to do too much himself (and the dive was embarrassing, but he wasn't alone in that). Jake Wright had Taylor in his pocket all night. Forde gave the ball away on multiple occasions after his introduction, and Agyei's contribution (or lack of) is probably best forgotten.

Eastwood played well, thank god.

In the end I was reasonably happy to take the point, and indeed both teams seemed to have settled for it with about ten minutes to go. I still had the nagging feeling that Bolton were going to snatch a late winner, and we couldn't have complained too much if they had.

Was the attendance misreported? Were there really only 6,000 home fans there? Very odd.

[ty cobb]

Agree last night was poor. I don't think our formation does us any favours. Seemed to be 4-1-3-1 which meant lots of space on the wings for them to attack which they did at will in the first half. Robinson claimed we were 4-4-2 in the first half - didn't see that at all as Woodburn was rarely on the last man. We also looked overrun with the midfield offering very little protection to the defence - no wonder we have conceded so many!

With Taylor miles off the pace we still look toothless up top with no holding the ball up and when he got the ball he seemed to either fall over or mis-control it, hopefully just rust but it leaves us struggling to poise a threat.

I think Henry is wasted out wide and we looked much better when he came inside.

Even if we had won last night we would only be 15th having played more games than most others. Not really very good at all.

I think part of the problem is the constant churning of players due to our reliance on loans. It was halfway through last season that the team clicked because so many players were new. I think it will be same again this season which is really frustrating as it means we give other teams too much of a head start.

And I also think its a absolute joke that other teams have had a free hit at Bolton before last night - the team last night was much better than the bunch of kids they have been putting our making a mockery of the league.

[Radley Rambler]

It’s Bolton’s first home game of any significance since their rescue and takeover. 9,000 fans turned up for a tinpot trophy game a couple of weeks ago. The place will be rocking tonight.

On top of that Keith Hill is a decent manager. He will have been stung by saturday’s result and be making damn sure it doesn’t happen again. Bolton’s team may not have played together much but they’re not kids any more. I’ll happily take a scrappy 1-0. In fact I might even take a point!

They've hardly played together, and most of them are cast offs who haven't played for a while, or at this level.

It would be disappointing for a well drilled team of decent League One players not to get a decent result.

Bolton 0 - Oxford 6

4 days out OY, 4 days out.

I see Bolton drew with Sunderland today as well.

[OtmoorYellow]

It’s Bolton’s first home game of any significance since their rescue and takeover. 9,000 fans turned up for a tinpot trophy game a couple of weeks ago. The place will be rocking tonight.

On top of that Keith Hill is a decent manager. He will have been stung by saturday’s result and be making damn sure it doesn’t happen again. Bolton’s team may not have played together much but they’re not kids any more. I’ll happily take a scrappy 1-0. In fact I might even take a point!

They've hardly played together, and most of them are cast offs who haven't played for a while, or at this level.

It would be disappointing for a well drilled team of decent League One players not to get a decent result.

Bolton 0 - Oxford 6

4 days out OY, 4 days out.

I see Bolton drew with Sunderland today as well.

Lol, so near yet so far.

[Jimski]

And I also think its a absolute joke that other teams have had a free hit at Bolton before last night - the team last night was much better than the bunch of kids they have been putting our making a mockery of the league.

Of course, we then had the luck of encountering Lincoln after the Cowleys left, but before Appleton took over.

Just the luck of the draw.

[slappy]

They've hardly played together, and most of them are cast offs who haven't played for a while, or at this level.

It would be disappointing for a well drilled team of decent League One players not to get a decent result.

Bolton 0 - Oxford 6

4 days out OY, 4 days out.

I see Bolton drew with Sunderland today as well.

Lol, so near yet so far.

I said after the match that if we'd been offered 6-0 vs Bolton and a 0-0 at Lincoln at the start of the week, that would be an acceptable four points.