Cheltenham Town 1 Oxford United 1 – Oops

Ouch!

Scott Brown proved the old adage that there is nowhere to hide when you make a gaff as a keeper.

Having gone a goal down after a header from the prolific Wes Thomas in the 29th minute, Oxford edged their way slowly back into the game and following a fairly sustained period of pressure in the second half and got their reward in the 59th minute.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Tom Craddock let fly with a low shot from about 22 yards that skidded off the wet surface and bounced back off Brown’s chest into the path of Jack Midson who poked in his third of the season from 5 yards.

It was great news for Midson who replaced suspended skipper and leading scorer James Constable for the fixture and will give boss Chris Wilder something to think about before he selects his next team.

Constable will probably get the nod, but both Craddock and Midson showed they are up for the fight when called upon.

It was a bad night for Brown though who must now put it behind him once the papers have been read and thrown away and his team mates have given him some merciless banter in training today.

Mark Yates was fuming last night, but he strikes me as someone who doesn’t hold a grudge and will ultimately put an arm around the shoulder of a player who he has lauded in the past.

And that’s the thing about football – one minute you’re a hero, the next and you’re not fit to wear the shirt. It can certainly be a fickle business. Ask Rob Green. East End hero last weekend and national disgrace a couple of months ago. You have to have thick skin and a lot of bottle to pull on that Number 1 shirt that’s for sure.

The good thing for Cheltenham is that Brown isn’t someone who will shirk his responsibilities and try and hide away. He’ll come out on Saturday with a point to prove and bust a gut to do it. He also has team mates who will back him as they appear to be a close knit group down at Whaddon Road.

Ultimately, a draw was probably a fair result anyway. Oxford took some time to find their feet, but in the second half Simon Heslop started imposing himself in midfield and they looked a real threat going forward.

Debutant Leigh Franks replaced Mark Creighton in the 14th minute - after the captain for the evening seemed to twist his ankle – and despite a couple of dodgy moments, grew into the role and built an understanding with fellow centre back Harry Worley.

In goal, Ryan Clarke was the pick of the bunch for me. He pulled off two low saves from David Bird and Jeff Goulding in the first half. He produced a brave double save from Thomas and Goulding late in the second half and also spared Franks blushes when the youngster’s sliced clearance looped over up and threatened to bounce into the net, before the former Bristol Rovers stopper managed to back pedal and scoop the ball the safety.

Maybe Wilder and Yates will have felt they both could and should have taken three points, but from my point of view a draw was the right result.

Oxford United 6 Bristol Rovers 1 – The Massacre

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

It’s easy, this writing lark!
One hundred words on the final whistle. Piece of piss really when you’re covering a fairly minor first round Carling Cup tie unless …

I was looking forward to seeing how newly promoted Oxford fared against League One outfit Bristol Rovers. It was going to be a good test for them against a decent side and a win wouldn’t necessarily have been a shock – this wasn’t a footballing win though, it was blood sport at its most horrific.

Striker James Constable in particular looked to be a man making up for lost time after several seasons plying his trade in the conference. On Saturday in the goalless draw against Burton, Constable had to deal with veteran defender Darren Moore and the Oxford skipper admitted he had to check Moore still wasn’t behind him before kick off in last night’s game. However, he had no such problems with the Rovers defence.

Constable scored two and had a hand in two others (for winger Matt Green and midfield Simon Heslop) and his awareness was superb. Constable’s co-striker Jack Midson also found the net and Heslop wrapped things up with his second in the dying seconds with the Rovers players desperate to get back on the team bus and go home.

Simon Heslop also deserves special mention (as an excited Oxford fan called Ian Smith pointed out to me at half time) and he certainly helped boss the midfield and gave his teammates the platform on which to strut their stuff.

Whatever the level of football, most of us have been on the end of a drubbing like this at one time or another, but something was seriously wrong with the Rovers players last night and, although Paul Trollope claimed afterwards that spirit was good in the camp, I have seen a fair bit of these players in the last couple of seasons and felt that the problems ran deeper than a bad day at the office.

There are some very good footballers in the Rovers team which makes it an even more puzzling result and it’ll be interesting to see how they get on in the West Country derby game against Yeovil on Saturday. My feeling is that the cider drinkers will be licking their lips in anticipation if they get their hands on the DVD of this one!

But it would be churlish to put this result down to Rovers’ ineptness. As bad as they were, Oxford were excellent.

Every Oxford player got stuck in and the movement and passing were superb – the finishing wasn’t too shoddy either!

Poor Mike Green – making his first competitive start in the Rovers goal after four years with the club – deserved much better protection. Frankly the goals weren’t his fault and I hope that his teammates all chip in to buy him a decent bottle of malt so he can drown his sorrows – it’s the least they can do for him. Trollope said that several of them apologized to him in the dressing room afterwards and so that’s a start.

Mikkel Andersen is first choice as Rovers keeper for the next month while on loan from Reading, but he was away on international duty with the Danish U-21s last night. Don’t be surprised if he “misplaces” his passport when he gets wind of this performance.

Chris Wilder was chuffed with his players last night and well he might be. It’s a tricky job sitting in the dugout knowing what your players should be doing and yet not being able to really influence proceedings (ask Paul Trollope), but last night’s game was one of those that Wilder could sit back and enjoy knowing his players were doing everything right.

I suspect he wasn’t too disappointed with Chris Line’s Rovers goal either. It allowed former Rovers’ keeper (and fan) Ryan Clarke to bend down and pick the ball up and stretching exercises are good for an athlete after all!