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Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:50 am
by Kernow Yellow
That second half has to rate as one of the very best OUFC performances I’ve ever witnessed. We held the Hammers reasonably comfortably in the first half - forget the possession stats, we had the better chances - and then completely overran them after the break.

No need to single anyone out. We were just awesome. And to think that one of the subs they brought on cost them £45 million in the summer! So pleased that Baptiste sealed his night with that incredibly nonchalant winner.

This team could be on to something really special - the confidence and togetherness coursing through them as the game wore on was something to behold. Fingers crossed...

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 3:04 am
by OtmoorYellow
And that was not even our first choice XI.

Simply stunning display.

This, like those matches in the early and mid eighties, will last a long time in the memory.

Legendary.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 8:15 am
by Kairdiff Exile
Highlights here. Some fine goals in there, especially Baptiste's. Sykes' cross for Taylor's is also the sort of the thing that gives centre forwards wet dreams.

PS: whilst looking at the BTL comments about the game on the Guardian website, I saw this by one of our own from RageOnline. Made me chuckle.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:24 pm
by recordmeister
Sadly I wasn’t at the game (Jerome), as I’m on me holidays. I picked up a hire car bang on KO at Boston airport and by the time I’d arrived in Provincetown to the hotel WiFi, three hours later, I’d had a barrage of texts off a load of mates. A great way to kick off the holiday!

A quick question: Did Thorne come off because he was injured? Also, Sykes- he’s a player! But he nearly left on loan earlier in the season...

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:30 pm
by Kairdiff Exile
recordmeister wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:24 pm A quick question: Did Thorne come off because he was injured?
Yeah, bad arm injury apparently. Don't know any more than that.

Edit: dislocated shoulder, apparently. You've got to feel for the bloke, he clearly has bad luck with injuries.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 7:19 pm
by Werthers Original
Kairdiff Exile wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2019 8:15 am Highlights here. Some fine goals in there, especially Baptiste's. Sykes' cross for Taylor's is also the sort of the thing that gives centre forwards wet dreams.

PS: whilst looking at the BTL comments about the game on the Guardian website, I saw this by one of our own from RageOnline. Made me chuckle.
Ironically if we had played our first team, with Woodburn wandering around and all that slow faffing with Henry and Cadden, we would probably have lost.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 8:33 pm
by Shoobedoo
Won't say too much about that game other than I'm still buzzing about it 24hrs later and I think it was probably the best cup performance since we dumped Newcastle - Kevin Keegan and all - out of the same competition in 1983 (and I was at that one too (Jerome)).

Magnificent.

How the hell do you drop any of them after that?

(and get well soon George Thorne - what a 19 minute cameo that was)

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:06 pm
by Werthers Original
Thorne looked great! Really hope we can get him fit then sign him, shipping out Hanson in return

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 3:01 pm
by slappy
OK it's from a clickbait Oxford Mail link
but Karl Robinson said “That 4-0 scoreline against a very strong West Ham team will probably go down as the biggest result here – and that surpasses any of the FA Cup games."

So is he right, in terms of top games at the Kassam stadium?
I'd go with this game,
Beating Swansea in the FA Cup
Beating Newcastle in the FA Cup
plus other memorable games ...
Beating Slumdon with Di Canio in charge
Winning promotion against Wycombe
Getting into the play-offs against Rushden and Diamonds
(plus you can probably add the Jefferson Louis FA Cup game vs Slumdon, and the other league wins).

Any others spring to mind?

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 3:19 pm
by Kairdiff Exile
If I was ranking them, I'd come up with something broadly similar, except for the fact that I'd have the Wycombe game much higher up. I know it lacked the high-profile opponent of the cup games, but in terms of matches that mattered in our history and of games that made our god-awful stadium feel like "home", it's right up there for me.

Incidentally, I know a couple of football fans who don't bother to watch cup games because they see them as a distraction. I've never got that. It's no coincidence that most of our fondest football memories (as evidenced by the list below) are of cup ties. It's a funny old game.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 3:21 pm
by Ancient Colin
In terms of importance, the Conference semi-final against Rushden is probably up there? {edit} Ah, see it was already there, sorry.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:07 pm
by Dr Bob
I would say the Newcastle result was decided once they missed a penalty. Mitrovic, as their main striker, just disappeared after that.

Between WHU (which I was not at) and Swansea (which I was), I would have thought the big difference was the fact that we really had to hold on to that lead against Swansea for what felt like ages. So for me, which goes top depends on whether you rate stuffing a PL side in what was ultimately a one-sided match higher or lower than battling a PL side that was just one goal behind and going for it. And since this is a debate on a fans' forum, not some academic calculus, I will go for the Swansea game...

And yes, had I been there on Wednesday maybe I would say differently.

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:32 pm
by Werthers Original
I think Swansea, as we were Div 4 and they had a strong side that was taking it seriously

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:49 pm
by Old Abingdonian
Good comparison. I agree about the tension in the Swansea game - there was something unreal about the atmosphere on Wednesday night once we went 1 - 0 up. On the other hand, we played some really excellent football on Wednesday, and as all have said, no-one had a bad game, and several players were excellent. There was also a really promising feeling of a team playing for each other: remarkable given that the different combinations of players had rarely been on the pitch together before (Sykes and Hall, for example)

Re: Hammer Time

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2019 9:17 pm
by slappy
It’s a question which has versions .
Best match ?
Best result ?
Most important ?
Most significant ?
League opponent results ?
Opposition rivalry?

Today I feel like thrashing West Ham was our best at the Kassam. Their squad cost so much and we ripped them apart second half.

Though when we beat Di canio and he was sunk on his haunches that was the best game.

Promotion games were great too. Is it just the two ? Or did I miss some ?