New Year in Exeter

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Did anybody break their leg this time?

[neilw]

If they did, it won't be quite like losing Andy Thomas.

[DLT]

It was tragic wasn't it.

The previous game he produced possibly the best performance ever by an Oxford player that I can remember. Against Orient I believe?

If my memory is right that Exeter game also saw the debut of David grant at left back.

[Baboo]

If they did, it won't be quite like losing Andy Thomas.

That was then this is now. Things just get worse. Not enough players to fill the bench. Three injured strikers. Basham on his own up front. Basham thinks he can't be left out and gets injured too. We are then left with the spectacle of Dempster up front. And I thought Duffy often doesn't get off the ground. We had a lot of the ball and did nothing with it. Their keeper made no saves. We had two shots from outside the box which their defence threw themselves at at the expense of corners. Might as well have been a goal kick for all the threat we pose. Gilly going off too ain't good. We might have been strikerless but we had a lot of highly paid footballers, by Conference standards, out there today and the Exeter fan I heard comment, &quotI thought Oxford would be better than that&quot spoke volumes.

On the bright side - and I am really clutching at straws here - D&ampR only drew and we got to see a couple of our youngsters at last.

Not a great start to 2007.

[Matt D]

...and we got to see a couple of our youngsters at last.

although jim smith didn't seem too enamoured with them, judging by his comments on the radio afterwards. anyone who was there care to comment on how gunn and kennet did?

[Mooro]

On the bright side - and I am really clutching at straws here - D&ampR only drew and we got to see a couple of our youngsters at last.

Not a great start to 2007.

A few more straws for you: D&ampR are still only one point in front of us and are set to lose two key players to Peterbro the pack are still six points back despite our current run only one league game in next 2.5 weeks so plenty of time for injuries to clear up window is now open so hopefully one or two fresh faces can come in still 356 shopping days to Christmas

[Mooro]

...and we got to see a couple of our youngsters at last.

although jim smith didn't seem too enamoured with them, judging by his comments on the radio afterwards. anyone who was there care to comment on how gunn and kennet did?

What did he say about them?

I know I keep banging on about this, but while he clearly has some sort of Atkins-esque aversion to using current or former youth players, at a time like this when we need all hands to the pump, it really doesn't serve any purpose to be criticising them in public.

He may think they are the weakest three members of his squad (which given some of the reports of Dempster and one or two others I doubt they actually are) but there seems little point in just ignoring or criticising them.

Can we expect to see Darren Patterson, Andy Awford, Les Taylor even our Chairman being registered as players this week in preference to the clubs youngsters?

[Matt D]

it wasn't so much criticism, it was more the lack of praise. from memory it was suggested that one of the few good things to come out of the match was that both kennet and gunn had got some first team experience.

smith's tone didn't sound like he agreed - said gunn had had a couple of slips but got himself out of them, and that there hadn't been long enough to make a judgement on kennet's performance.

given it was the first appearances of two young players, i would've expected a &quotboth did well in difficult circumstances etc.&quot would've been in order even if they hadn't played that well, particularly given that, as you say, we will presumably asking them to slot into the first team again in the very near future.

[SmileyMan]

Although presumably Jim knows much better than us from the training ground/dressing room how much the egos of these kids need pumping up or deflating a little?

[Resurrection Ox]

Although presumably Jim knows much better than us from the training ground/dressing room how much the egos of these kids need pumping up or deflating a little?

Why 'presumably'? He's their manager isn't he?

[Mooro]

Although presumably Jim knows much better than us from the training ground/dressing room how much the egos of these kids need pumping up or deflating a little?

Why 'presumably'? He's their manager isn't he?

Exactly, just look at how he well he handled Tommy Winters

[Baboo]

...and we got to see a couple of our youngsters at last.

although jim smith didn't seem too enamoured with them, judging by his comments on the radio afterwards. anyone who was there care to comment on how gunn and kennet did?

Both did okay. Kennet looked enthusiastic and willing to get stuck in too. Didn't take him long to get booked. Gunn didn't look out of his depth. Slipped over once but recovered well. (Not sure if it was he or Quinn who made an error for their second goal though.

[Kernow Yellow]

I thought Gunn looked pretty useful. Reasonably assured, apart from the one slip, in quite nasty conditions (NOT the one for the second goal - that was Quinn). And considerably more effective clearances than the other centre backs.

Kennet didn't get long enough to make an impact. He seemed comfortable on the ball, but didn't do that much with it in the short time he had on pitch.

As to the game as a whole - if we were struggling to avoid relegation, I'd take heart from the fact that we showed some fight (for once). But since we're trying to win the league, our lack of creativity is incredibly worrying.