High flying Oxford United ran out winners on Tuesday in a foggy evening at Sincil Bank.
Tom Shaw made a few changes to the side that drew with Exeter City on the weekend. Lukas Jensen retained his place in goal, as did Jack Burroughs, Paudie O’Connor, Adam Jackson, Alex Mitchell and Sean Roughan in the back five. Ethan Hamilton and Ethan Erhahon continued in midfield, while Lasse Sorensen remained out wide. Jack Vale came into the side for his first City start, while Danny Mandroiu returned to the side following suspension.
We started the game on the front foot with a string of early set pieces – although they all failed to test James Beadle. Oxford’s Sam Long was forced off with an injury early, with Stan Mills replacing the right-back, who was forced to exit the pitch on crutches.
Against the run of play, Oxford took the lead, as we conceded yet another corner. Cameron Brannagan’s delivery was headed in by Northern Irish international Ciaron Brown at the near. It was a soft goal to concede, especially to a side with the quality that Oxford have. Throughout the game, they impressed me. They can do the part of the game, that everyone concentrates on (creating chances, playing good football) but they can also do the things that are crucial to winning games (staying disciplined, breaking up the game etc). If you want to do well in this division, Oxford are a good side to look at, especially with how they set up last night.
It’s easy to forget we started well, and unfortunately the goal killed us. We didn’t get the reaction we got last Tuesday, but it’s no surprise. In the last two weeks, we had the upheaval with Mark Kennedy leaving and since we have played four difficult league games including tough and long away trips to Fleetwood and Exeter. I sympathise with the players as someone who took the trip to Exeter, it’s not an easy journey and with it just felt like we were just below our usual levels once the goal went in last night.
We didn’t lack desire and passion – the usual things fans blame poor performances on. I just felt we struggled to break through Oxford and although we tried we couldn’t get near them at times. The effort was definitely there from the lads, Lasse and Hamilton didn’t stop running throughout the entire 90 minutes, but where we had effort, we just sometimes lacked the application needed to hurt a side as good as Oxford.
Liam Manning’s side were contained us well. Although we had the majority of the play at times, we found ourselves with possession amongst our back-three or launching long balls over the top. Oxford were outnumbering us in midfield, which meant they pushed us into making mistakes in possession throughout the half.
I was hoping for a reaction in the second half, but we didn’t get it. We showed effort but made no progress. I can’t remember any significant opportunities for either side. Their goal came from an error, when Jensen deflected a cross into his own net. He’ll be disappointed with it, but he’s the type of player who will recover, and let’s be frank, his error didn’t influence the outcome of the game in any way. Without that goal, we were on track for a 1-0 loss, plain and simple. When Jensen miscalculated the ball, it simply confirmed a result that we all knew we were heading towards.
Tuesday night was a good learning curve for Tom Shaw and the players. A loss against a top side will teach us so much more than the win against Charlton did in the long run. The positive from Tuesday is that even when we weren’t at our best, we weren’t rolled over 4-0 or 5-0. The foundations were still there, but we just failed to get to the level we know we can get to throughout the 90 minutes.
Seven points from twelve under an interim head coach is very impressive. Tom deserves massive credit, and my opinion hasn’t changed at all – I still firmly believe he should be in the running for the job. We now have two tough cup games against League Two sides in some really good form, they’ll be great tests and also offer us a chance to give some minutes to other players in the squad.