Derby day

[GodalmingYellow]

A really good defenisve performance by the U's today.

I've seen the Constable incident on replay, but only once and at full speed and based on that, I think the club should be appealing the card. It's not even a foul.

I thought the ref had a shocker and was very very one sided. I'm definitely not being one eyed, but check out the bookings 5 plus a straight red, to one yellow. The idea that Swinedown were any better behaved than Oxford is nonsense.

I think 2 of the Oxford yellows were justified, but that's it.

The Swinedown player who pushed the ball boy should have had a straight red. Not dissimilar to the Cantona incident, albeit it on a lesser level. This sort of behviour can never be acceptable, no matter how irritating the ball boy might have been.

Speaking of bad behaviour, the limited few of our fans in the North Stand, with their cowardly posturing, have probably cost the club the equivalent of the salary of a decent striker for an entire season today.

Clarkey had an wonderful game in goal, and Dubes had a fine game as well.

Special mention also for Rendell who put in a lot of miles today.

I must admit when I first heard the team line ups before the game, I was a tad anxious. By the (ridiculous) 100th minute of the game, I was on cloud 9.

This day will be filed in the long term memory alongside Wembley victories.

Edit: How could I forget to mention Chappers? It was as though he had never been away.

[joepoolman]

Ritchie should've been sent off seeung as 9 times out of 10 you get sent off for raising your hand against another player, but in his defence he did go and shake his hand after so I can just about forgive him for that incident.
Today I thought Dubes, Whing, Tonks and Clarke were all outstanding, and everyone else was very good, Chapman fitted in as if he's never been away!

[Old Abingdonian]

Credit in particular to Tonkin, who was the model professional, coming in for his fourth start of the season (and first this calendar year). He read the game so well, and broke up so many Slumdon attacks.

Credit too to Wilder for his team selection, because I, like many others, cringed when I heard that Hall and Tonkin were playing.

[Snake]

I thought that They looked better than Us, but tough luck Mr. Di Canio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Louis

[keyboard warrior]

A really good defenisve performance by the U's today.

I've seen the Constable incident on replay, but only once and at full speed and based on that, I think the club should be appealing the card. It's not even a foul.

I thought the ref had a shocker and was very very one sided. I'm definitely not being one eyed, but check out the bookings 5 plus a straight red, to one yellow. The idea that Swinedown were any better behaved than Oxford is nonsense.

I think 2 of the Oxford yellows were justified, but that's it.

The Swinedown player who pushed the ball boy should have had a straight red. Not dissimilar to the Cantona incident, albeit it on a lesser level. This sort of behviour can never be acceptable, no matter how irritating the ball boy might have been.

Speaking of bad behaviour, the limited few of our fans in the North Stand, with their cowardly posturing, have probably cost the club the equivalent of the salary of a decent striker for an entire season today.

Clarkey had an wonderful game in goal, and Dubes had a fine game as well.

Special mention also for Rendell who put in a lot of miles today.

I must admit when I first heard the team line ups before the game, I was a tad anxious. By the (ridiculous) 100th minute of the game, I was on cloud 9.

This day will be filed in the long term memory alongside Wembley victories.

I really don't understand this. I was 10 seats from the barrier, with my wife, and I saw nothing. There are some reports of seats being torn out but again I didn't see that. Maybe it looks worse than it really is from a distance.

[GodalmingYellow]

A really good defenisve performance by the U's today.

I've seen the Constable incident on replay, but only once and at full speed and based on that, I think the club should be appealing the card. It's not even a foul.

I thought the ref had a shocker and was very very one sided. I'm definitely not being one eyed, but check out the bookings 5 plus a straight red, to one yellow. The idea that Swinedown were any better behaved than Oxford is nonsense.

I think 2 of the Oxford yellows were justified, but that's it.

The Swinedown player who pushed the ball boy should have had a straight red. Not dissimilar to the Cantona incident, albeit it on a lesser level. This sort of behviour can never be acceptable, no matter how irritating the ball boy might have been.

Speaking of bad behaviour, the limited few of our fans in the North Stand, with their cowardly posturing, have probably cost the club the equivalent of the salary of a decent striker for an entire season today.

Clarkey had an wonderful game in goal, and Dubes had a fine game as well.

Special mention also for Rendell who put in a lot of miles today.

I must admit when I first heard the team line ups before the game, I was a tad anxious. By the (ridiculous) 100th minute of the game, I was on cloud 9.

This day will be filed in the long term memory alongside Wembley victories.

I really don't understand this. I was 10 seats from the barrier, with my wife, and I saw nothing. There are some reports of seats being torn out but again I didn't see that. Maybe it looks worse than it really is from a distance.

You mean you didn't see the large number of cowards (I won't call them fans) crowded at the top of the North Stand (almost all nowhere near their seats), forcing stewards back towards the Slumdon fans, or the people removing the segregation barrier. You mean you didn't hear the very loud tannoy announcement telling people to return to their seats, or the introduction of armoured police? You didn't notice the 30 minutes it took the police to restore order? You didn't see the grandstanding inside and outside the ground.

And you were only 10 seats from the barrier?

I can recommend a good optician.

[Kernow Yellow]

Say what you like about Paolo Di Canio (no, really, please do), but he certainly enters into the correct spirit of Oxford-Slumdon games!

Was gutted to miss yesterday, stuck in Cornwall with flu and my match ticket burning a hole in my wallet. But you didn't have to be at the game, Jerome, to know what an absolutely monumental effort that was from every single player. Massive credit to Chris Wilder for getting our depleted squad to really fight for each other as a team. The will to win was just incredible.

Doing the double over the scum is no substitute for promotion, but it's still a great achievement and shows what this team is capable of.

[Paul Cooper]

Excellent performance when considered they had won 10 in a row and we played most of the game with 10.

Huge credit to Clarke and the defenders.

Huge credit also to CW who has outthought DiCanio twice. He was the one who remained professional and calm throughout the build up and aftrewards and set up his team to beat Swinetown.

Wilder has managed to turn us into a team that wins big games as KT rightly said after the game.

As an aside Swin*** did look a very good team going forwads although in the second half they did sem to run out of ideas

[slappy]

I don't think many would have expected a victory with the forced changes with Wright and Leven out. Was quite a different back 4 bringing Tonkin in for Davis, and Whing for Worley.

I can't really see Constable's 'elbow', but the player rolled around like he'd been KO'd. Poor defending for our second goal. To get two quick goals was astonishing, as we rarely seem to chase a second once we have a lead.

Ritchie was unlucky hitting the post, and how two of them missed at the end is a mystery. Also they reminded me of our own attacks in the second half, when no-one wanted to take responsibility for shooting, instead trying to pass the ball around.

Huge game for the defence, Rendell left as lone striker but still gave them enough problems so they couldn't go all out attack. Chapman impressed in midfield, I wonder if he is back for good now? Also JPP and Davis back playing again. We made a few mistakes, but luckily they went unpunished.

Anyway, the bottlers couldn't handle the big occasion. PDC's naivety showed, subbing a sub and using all three with almost half an hour to go.

So can we string a few more wins together, get clear space into the play-offs, or even dare I say it, start looking at the auto promotion spots?

[recordmeister]

An amazing game heroic effort from our back line.

When I heard the line-up, I thought we were starting with the slowest centre back pairing in the league, but that didn't seem to matter as they put their bodies in front of every shot that came in. It'll be interesting to see how we recover for Tues night. I expect substantial changes to the XI after what must have been a totally knackering experience for the players out there.

Big kudos must go to new players / loanees who might not have had an emotional investment in the match. Every single player put in a shift. Amazing effort.

Was esp pleased for Chappers who looked calm and considered on the ball. For a player with a rel 'joker' reputation (read the inside back page of the prog) he handles MASSIVE games really very, very well with such a level head and ice cool skills. I don't think I ever once saw him looking paniced when being closed down by 3 Scum players.

Watched the highlights last night to try and make some sense of the red card. Not a clue still on it but I certainly think we are owed a statement by Beano. If it was a red card situation, then quite frankly he's a dick. If not, then we need to appeal it. My gut feeling is the latter. If it was an elbow, it wasn't to the head.

[joepoolman]

Watched the highlights last night to try and make some sense of the red card. Not a clue still on it but I certainly think we are owed a statement by Beano. If it was a red card situation, then quite frankly he's a dick. If not, then we need to appeal it. My gut feeling is the latter. If it was an elbow, it wasn't to the head.

He was on Twitter last night:

&quotGutted to be sent off today, let everyone down! But the lads were amazing and deserved the win, put 110% effort and did themselves proud!&quot

&quotFelt a push in the back and tried to grab the player, people who know me, know I'm not a dirty player! I get that week in week out, but ...

&quot...if I reacted like there lad did there would be games where 3 or 4 players would get sent off! The fans were amazing today, massive win!!&quot

[slappy]

I've just seen the extended highlights on Yellow Player - some quality defending, saves, and poor finishing from the Robins.

[Baboo]

http&#58//www&#46rageonline&#46co&#46uk ... ws_id=3086

[Snake]

A really good defenisve performance by the U's today.

I've seen the Constable incident on replay, but only once and at full speed and based on that, I think the club should be appealing the card. It's not even a foul.

I thought the ref had a shocker and was very very one sided. I'm definitely not being one eyed, but check out the bookings 5 plus a straight red, to one yellow. The idea that Swinedown were any better behaved than Oxford is nonsense.

I think 2 of the Oxford yellows were justified, but that's it.

The Swinedown player who pushed the ball boy should have had a straight red. Not dissimilar to the Cantona incident, albeit it on a lesser level. This sort of behviour can never be acceptable, no matter how irritating the ball boy might have been.

Speaking of bad behaviour, the limited few of our fans in the North Stand, with their cowardly posturing, have probably cost the club the equivalent of the salary of a decent striker for an entire season today.

Clarkey had an wonderful game in goal, and Dubes had a fine game as well.

Special mention also for Rendell who put in a lot of miles today.

I must admit when I first heard the team line ups before the game, I was a tad anxious. By the (ridiculous) 100th minute of the game, I was on cloud 9.

This day will be filed in the long term memory alongside Wembley victories.

I really don't understand this. I was 10 seats from the barrier, with my wife, and I saw nothing. There are some reports of seats being torn out but again I didn't see that. Maybe it looks worse than it really is from a distance.

You mean you didn't see the large number of cowards (I won't call them fans) crowded at the top of the North Stand (almost all nowhere near their seats), forcing stewards back towards the s*****n fans, or the people removing the segregation barrier. You mean you didn't hear the very loud tannoy announcement telling people to return to their seats, or the introduction of armoured police? You didn't notice the 30 minutes it took the police to restore order? You didn't see the grandstanding inside and outside the ground.

And you were only 10 seats from the barrier?

I can recommend a good optician.

What a financially stupid and ineffective bit of North Stand segregation that was yesterday. We used some easily moved black netting (aka our frost covers) instead of using more stewards or police to maintain a neutral zone between fans. The official attendance suggest that there were 700 unsold seats at £15(?) a head on average which could have been reduced to 200 if the gap between Us and the Scum had been occupied by more paid security staff and so the other 500 seats would have generated a further £7,500(?) in ticket sales plus all the extras - like refreshments and the fact that 500 more Oxford United fans would be more keen to attend in future having witnessed yesterday’s atmosphere and result.

I’m sure people on this board take a peek at MotD now and again and if so then take a look at the crowds and if you can spot such vast physical gaps between opposing supporters at the sell out games at the top level then I’m happy to be proved wrong. From my experience they usually have just two or three columns of hard and fit looking stewards to keep the fans apart and it nearly always works without having the drama of yesterday with TVP marching into the North Stand at various times.

On the flip side, well done to the commercial side of the club as the pre-match brunch and organisation was much better than I expected.

[Myles Francis]

On the flip side, well done to the commercial side of the club as the pre-match brunch and organisation was much better than I expected.

Have to second this. The breakfast was excellent and well organised. Only downsides (and fairly minor) were no team sheets and no half-time coffee and biccies (which we were told on arrival that there would be).

Random thoughts on match itself:

1) If Beano's challenge was a red card, there should've been a few others walking too.

2) How is assaulting a ballboy only a yellow card offence? I have a feeling the ref didn't see that part and just caught sight of the afters, realised something had gone on and booked Ritchie on the back of that.

3) DiCanio is all posture. Throughout the game the way he was jutting his chin out was so contrived. Same again when boarding the coach afterwards. Couldn't help but vociferously point out that his team were made in his image - big game bottlers!

4) I think the red card helped us to an extent as it upset their gameplan as much as ours.

5) As someone already mentioned, DiCanio showed his naivety with his substitutions. Showing a lack of faith in his team after 25 mins was never going to help. Unable to break down 10 men over 80 minutes is a fairly damning indictment.

6) Sw!nd*n are a good, pacy attacking side. But their finishing was absolutely woeful. Seriously did not look like a team who'd won 10 on the bounce.

7) After all the pre-match banter from their fans about how this was a big game and they'd win comfortably, it's been hilarious to see them back pedaling faster than Chris Hoy in reverse by now claiming that it wasn't really a big game, and it was just our Cup Final. Their big game is at Wembley in a couple of weeks. Anyone who doesn't see a game against their local rivals like this as a big game is not a proper fan IMHO. And since when did anybody give the smallest toss about the Paintpot Cup?!

I really wish Clarkey would hold the ball when making saves. Had my heart in my mouth far too many times from him bouncing it in front of him before taking hold.

9) Hard to single out individuals in what was a great team performance, but thought Duberry was immense as was Whing. Rendell ran his socks off too. And Chapman looked very encouraging as well.

Really hoping that we don't have a hangover on Tuesday night.