Oxford United v Torquay United - 9/4/12

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surreygull66
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Post by surreygull66 »

Agree much of what Jeff reported.

The Eunan "offside" needs to be looked at on camera, whatever this shows, this was heading to be a potential season turning decision or rather an excuse that could have been used, "big" clubs get the decisions etc, but no after 25 minutes of we got it out the system and the 10 men showed great commitment to pull back a point. Perhaps Oxford not having a sub keeper helped but going 3,3,3 with Ellis up top sohed commitment of the highest order.

Well done Martin & the boys.
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Post by miltonkeynesgull »

Finally got home about an hour ago after sitting in Oxford's car park for 40 minutes. Add that to the half an hour I spent stuck in traffic outside the ground trying to get in, I feel like I've spent an inordinate amount of time today gridlocked!

I've never had much luck watching the Gulls at the Kassam in previous visits, and I had a similar sense of forboding ahead of today's game (my third consecutive match, too). I decided on the way there that a draw would be a decent result.

The first half was real end-to-end stuff, with both sides carving out good chances early on. Montano was a real handful for them, while Howe and Eunan had decent effort's at the other end.

Then came the goal. A horrific attempted backpass from Worley played in Howe, who finished sublimely from an acute angle on the left hand side of the box. 0-1!
He had the ball in the net again soon afterwards, with a curling effort that beat Ryan Clarke in the Oxford goal ruled out for offside in the build up.

The half carried on in much the same vain, both sides playing quality football, but we were good value for our lead at the break.

I thought the second half would be a really tough test, and that it was, although we started well. Morris played a through ball which Rene latched onto, rounded the keeper and shot towards an open net. The Oxford defender made an excellent sliding block to stop it going in. The ball came back to Rene, who chipped to the far post where Eunan bundled home. But the offside flag was raised. Seemed a ridiculous call as the Oxford defender who made the initial block was still on the line. Would have to see it again though.

Oxford were really fired up and quickly pegged us back and then went in front. First, a corner which seemed to hold up slightly in the wind before looping over Bobby for 1-1, and then a header from Montano after a cross came in unchallenged from our left hand side for 2-1.

After Morris was sent off after picking up his second yellow for a silly tackle, it looked like the game was up. But somehow we salavaged a point, Atieno picking up the ball outside the area and hitting a hopeful shot which the keeper somehow conspired to palm into his own net for 2-2!

All in all a decent point, considering out numerical disadvantage, and one that very much keeps us in the automatic hunt. Got to feel it will come down to the last day, though.

Officials: Truly dreadful. Worst since that clown at Bournemouth. Gave us absolutely nothing all afternoon. Playing against 14 men.
Special mention: Saah (heroic today - including one immense block of a goalbound effort), Oastler, Morris (great before his sending off) and Rene. All excellent in my opinion. And of course the 600/700 (I think?) travelling Gulls fans who made a great noise all afternoon, and never stopped singing.
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Post by Jeff »

I think if we were to watch the Eunan offside again, we'd see it was probably the correct decision.

Yes their defender was on the line, but it's not his position that is important - its that of the keeper. When Rene played the ball to Eunan, they were both goal-side of the keeper and thus there was only one player between them and the goal. The only question really is whether the pass was forward, and from where I was I think it marginally was.
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Post by Regiment »

i want to start with the officiating. without seeing the "offsides" on tv, its impossible to be sure, but my initial feeling was the first one must've been very tight - i thought the pass from eunan was played square to rene, so he must've been onside. I can only think the second one was disallowed because the keeper was not behind the ball, and so there was only the defender on the deck and not a second player between howe and eunan, but i'd like to see it on tv. before i criticise the ref at the end of a game, i try to step back and breathe for a minute, and consider if the opposition can feel aggrieved at all about decisions, and my conclusion today is oxford had very little, if anything at all, to complain about.

The red card - first yellow, no doubt about it, right decision. 2nd one was clearly awarded because of the reactions of the oxford players. it looked a genuine 50-50, but again, tv might show it differently. however, i thought too, that as soon as you put your hands in an opponent's face, it's a red, so that bald t**t should therefore have got his marching orders too.

so what about our lads today ?? I have to confess i haven't been able to get to a game since plymouth away, but in comparison to that day, i thought we looked tired, leggy, and lacked pace all over the pitch. Danny had a bad day, gave us nothing going forward, and left Nico exposed way too many times, exactly how their 2nd goal arrived.

Our full backs lacked energy and precision with their forward play and passing. Bobby pulled off some great saves, ellis and saah were fantastic, our two best players by a mile in my eyes. Damo did ok, not his best, but worked hard - the same could be said of manse. Eunan tried, but mostly failed, but i'd put much of that down to oxford doing their homework, and crowded him out. we had no width, morris was doing ok, but danny was poor. Rene was clearly struggling, but did what he could and took his goal well. i think fully fit, he would've and should've shot first time instead of rounding the keeper, then there wouldn't be an offside for us to debate.

I also thought Tai looked lazy, his touch was poor, but got a lucky goal, and who knows how important that might prove to be in a few weeks time.

So, a lucky goal each, poor defending for the other goals, all in all pretty even on that score. we were comfortable in first half, and had we gone 2 up, i think oxford would've folded.

all things considered, at this stage of the season, oxford pushing for play-offs, plenty to play for, we've had to contend with a k**b of a ref, went 2-1 down, had a man sent off (for the third season on the trot at Oxford) but score a "fortunate" 90th minute equaliser, i think most of us would've taken that in the end today.

i just hope any injuries we're carrying now don't hamper us and spoil all the hard work done so far - next week against southend is a really big game. but by my maths, we've guaranteed play-offs now, so well done to Lingy & Taylor, and everyone at the club. fantastic job by all.
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Post by Colorado Gull »

FFS had this long post done and I bloody lost it! Anyway not what I was going to say, but Ive got two videos, that I taken today, to upload onto YouTube, but I will do it tomorrow, will keep you posted.
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Post by Bearne1 »

Epic game of football, due to the cost involved this was only my 3rd away trip of the season.

Jeff's report summed up the events nicely, and must say, I controversially thought the referee made the correct decisions on the 'majority' of occasions. As soon as Morris made the 2nd challenge it was obvious he would walk. It looked late from where I was sat but a video replay will obviously confirm.

Glad a stayed in Swindon overnight, traffic heading up seemed an utter nightmare.

Saw the chap with the Man U shirt in the Priory - security staff there 'removed' him from the tent and shoved him on the rodeo bull outside, it was hilarious!!
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Post by HarrowGull »

Jeff wrote:I think if we were to watch the Eunan offside again, we'd see it was probably the correct decision.

Yes their defender was on the line, but it's not his position that is important - its that of the keeper. When Rene played the ball to Eunan, they were both goal-side of the keeper and thus there was only one player between them and the goal. The only question really is whether the pass was forward, and from where I was I think it marginally was.
As a referee, it doesn't matter whether the pass was forwards, backwards, sideways or inside out. Direction of the ball has nothing to do with it. All that matters is whether Eunan was behind the ball when it was played or not.

You're spot on about the keeper though: in terms of offside, the keeper is a defender like all the other players on his team.
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Post by miltonkeynesgull »

Just seen this on the Oxford forum, thought it was worth posting here.

Rendall backing into Bobby anyone? Looks a definite foul, although couldn't see it from where we were. Ref should've spotted it.

[youtube]C14JZiggpVE[/youtube]
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Post by bengull »

Torquay's luck looked to have deserted them but then reappeared in the last minute as the Gulls earned a hard fought draw from an enthralling encounter at the Kassam Stadium. Despite playing the last 15 minutes with 10 men, Torquay didn't give up and got a deserved draw from a match that for so long they thought they might get all three from as Taiwo Atieno dramatically equalised in the dying stages.

After a grueling journey up amid Bank Holiday gridlock on the Motor-ways and around the ground, 746 Torquay fans filled the terrace in jubilant mood after Saturday's victory over Accrington gave them breathing space above their promotion rivals. News had filtered through earlier in the day that old Torquay adversary Steve Evans had left fellow promotion chasers Crawley to take the reins at Rotherham, which many believed would have an adverse effect on Crawley's promotion chances.

Torquay lined up in their white away strip for the fourth away game on the trot, playing in their customary 4-5-1 formation, unchanged from Saturday. Oxford lined up in a more traditional 4-4-2 formation, with ex-Gull Scott Rendell making do with a place on the bench.

The game had a terrific open feel about it, two confident teams passing the ball at pace, the complete antithesis to the turgid 0-0 draw between the 2 teams at Plainmoor on New Years Eve. Oxford started the brightest and had a couple of decent strikes at goal from distance, one of which Olejnik had to be alert to parry over for a corner. Torquay on the other hand were getting in behind the Oxford full-backs at will and looked dangerous from the wide areas.

From the early exchanges it looked to be a match which promised goals and Torquay scored the first of the match in the 17th minute. A hopeful ball forward caught Harry Worley napping, his slip and resultant poor back pass was capitalised upon by Rene Howe who kept his cool when through on goal, and slotted it through the legs of Ryan Clarke at his near post, It was a calm finish from a player high on confidence. The same man can count himself unlucky to see an even better finish chalked off for offside 10 minutes later after he was wrongly adjudged to have miss-timed his run before brilliantly curling the ball into the corner with his left foot.

Oxford, undeterred by falling behind, continued to knock at the Torquay door, another shot from distance brought about an uncharacteristic fumble from Bobby Olejnik, but before the oncoming striker had time to react to the rebound the big Austrian was straight at his feet, suffocating the ball, and thwarting the danger, top class goal-keeping once more. That scare apart it was a relatively comfortable first half for Torquay who at 1-0 up would have had all the belief in the world that they could see out the victory having done so on so many occasions this season.

The second half brought about even more drama, it was just 5 minutes old when Rene Howe had a golden chance to double his tally, and double the score. Once again released through on goal after another pin-point pass, Howe rounded the keeper and chose not to take an extra touch, instead shooting first time. In doing so his shot did not have the required power needed to cross the line and the covering defender was able to excellently clear off the line. The ball fell back to Howe, who could have fired at goal, but chose to square it across the penalty line to Eunan O'Kane to apply the finishing touch. The goal was ruled out for offside, which had all Torquay fans baffled and incensed in equal measure, in that situation the defender becomes the goalkeeper, IE the last line of defence, and if the linesmen judged Howe's cross to be a forward pass then technically the right decision was made. It was marginal.

This sense of injustice lent a more combative edge to the game, as the tackles started to thunder in and the referee struggled to keep control, Oxford threw on Rendell and stepped up a gear, relentlessly attacking the Torquay goal. Brian Saah came to Torquay's rescue soon after when he threw himself in the way of a goal bound effort after Bobby Olejnik had denied the initial effort with a fine parry, as Torquay struggled to get out of their own half.

Although it was coming, the equaliser was fortuitous in the extreme, scored direct from a corner. Chapman's kick from the left was to his own mind. poor, a fact he admitted on the local radio later, however the howling wind got hold of it as it flew into the top corner. It was a horrible goal to concede, a freak goal, but on the balance of the match it was a deserved equaliser, but Torquay didn't react to it very well. Howe was withdrawn with what looked to be a re-occurrence of the injury that has bothered him in recent weeks, and with that substitution went Torquay's only real outlet in the second half.

Whilst knocking the wind out of Torquay's sails, the goal also served to galvanise Oxford, who by now were attacking in waves. They took the lead just minutes later by catching Torquay on the counter attack. The ever dangerous Damien Batt managed to find a bit of space away from Kevin Nicholson and despite slipping his delivery still managed to be inch perfect and was expertly dispatched into the net by Montano via his head. Within the space of 10 minutes, a match that Torquay had been comfortably leading was now slipping out of their fingers.

Torquay looked to have lost their discipline slightly, and in chasing the game, elementary errors crept into their play, which led to a great deal of frustration in the stands. This was compounded by an injured goalkeeper who insisted on taking 2 minutes per goal kick to instruct his defender how to kick for him, and the laziest set of ball boys i have ever seen in my life. Torquay's task was made harder with 15 minutes to go when Ian Morris received his second yellow card of the match, his initial challenge was late and poor, deserving a yellow in itself. Any decision the referee needed to make was made easier however when the recipient of the challenge reacted angrily to Morris' misdemeanour resulting in fisticuffs from both players. Both players were booked for this incident, but sadly for Torquay Morris had already been booked and had to go.

For the next ten minutes it looked to be a matter of how many Oxford would score, and had it not been for poor final balls, woeful finishing and continued brilliance from Olejnik it could have been a hatful. It was nearly a case of hanging on to a 2-1 defeat. But this Torquay team is made from sterner stuff than those previously, with belief and spirit in abundance Torquay decided to release the shackles and take the game to Oxford in the last five, throwing Ellis upfront and going for broke. Oxford panicked, and it paid off.

After some neat play on the near touchline without creating an opening on goal, the ball fell to Taiwo Atieno on the edge of the box, he took a touch and rifled a speculative shot at goal which Ryan Clarke, now noticeably troubled by an injury, managed to dive out of the way of and parry into his own net. Because it looked such an elementary save for the goalkeeper it took a second to register that is was a goal, but once realised i celebrated in now customary delirium. Atieno himself, delighted with his endeavours jumped into the crowd to join in the wild celebration and got booked for his troubles.

With stoppage time still to play I was overcome with a feeling that Torquay were somehow going to win it, Oxford looked crestfallen. Despite the ball being in the Oxford third for the final couple of minutes Torquay could not manufacture a chance at goal and with that the referee brought a pulsating encounter to an end. The last minute equaliser felt like a winner due to the pressure Torquay had absorbed in the second half, and history might just show that as the point that takes us up.

Despite Crawley and Shrewsbury both winning, Torquay remain in second place, but can be caught by both their rivals. Torquay must gain more points in the final 4 fixtures than at least one of their counterparts in order to go up, but with the belief and confidence powering this team, as shown by today's dramatic and unlikely comeback, we should all know by now not to write Torquay off.
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Post by ferrarilover »

Rendell clearly bundles Bobby into the net. No surprise ref never gave it, he was utterly horrendous today.

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Post by Glostergull »

bixieupnorth wrote:man u shirt in the Torquay end, what a knob!
You must have been very close to us then. We met him as we came into the stand about to climb up to our seats. Plonker didn't begin to describe him. I thought he may have been tanked up but couldn't decide who he was supporting. I ain't seen him before and to be honest I won't worry if I don't see him again. Imagine my horror when I saw he was in the row behind us and only 3 seats away. I told my wife not to do anything to attract his attention.
Wonder if he was a relic of someones old time capsule dug up after the last match

The Match itself was full of incident and I won't go into a long winded descrition as many have already done, But I will settle for the point as I would have done before hand.

One big hand out to Priory who was bang on with the pre and after match entertainment. The welcome from their fans was brilliant and would make me want to go there again to sample their wares. cheaper than the stadium by a country mile.
All the oppo fans made us very welcome and very good natured banter with a lot of them.
Band was superb with many spot on renditions of classic rock with quite a few from my favourites Pink Floyd.
Had a good chat with the lads as they boarded the coach after the game and comiserated with Helen in her new DB9 after being caught in a speed trap. It's the Car Helen. have to downgrade to something anonymous like a 2CV.
All in all a good day out only slightly spoiled by the loss of 2 points I didn't think we would get anyway.
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Post by bengull »

I didn't think we would get two points from this game either....


(yes, i knew what you meant)
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Post by HarrowGull »

Image

Looks onside to me...
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Post by cambgull »

It's already been worked out that it's because of there being only one player behind the ball. So it is offside.
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