On a chilly, grey, and wintry afternoon that got a bit crisper as kickoff approached, Oxford came to the Sol and nicked a point from a game we should have won in the second half. We started well, took a deserved lead, then seemed to shrink into our shell(s) for the rest of the first half. Oxford offered nothing after the break as we showed a more positive approach, but the closest we got was hitting the woodwork twice as our decision making in and around the box let us down badly.
After battling the opposition and the weather to bring three points back from the light blues, we faced the dark blues with their manager claiming that he’d had no apology for the goings-on during their last visit to Wearside. Goings-on that were instigated largely by the antics of himself and his players, which had precious little to do with playing football – so I was well prepared for more of the niggly nonsense, and slightly disappointed that Max Power wasn’t in our squad to wind up the bulky Oxford supremo. Speaking of former players, let’s send best wishes to Charlie Wyke again - living (thankfully) proof that footballers are only human.
The least said about Wednesday’s game the better, as opinion is divided on whether it’s a trophy we should have been defending with our very lives, or a hindrance and nuisance to our league campaign. For some reason, which I don't believe has anything to do with Wednesday's result, the Bish bus was down from forty-odd to less than twenty. Strange, but mebbe it was Christmas getting in the way already - you scumbag, you maggot, you taped over Taggart....and then Harry came down the bus asking if I was OK for Tuesday - a match I'd forgotten about to the extent that it wasn't even on the calendar at home. Similarly, the Isis and the Dun Cow had seats to spare and had me wondering if it was to be our lowest league attendance to date. It was. I wonder if Mr Methven was here, and if he was wearing a half and half scarf?
Hoffman
Wright Doyle Flanagan
Gooch Neil Winchester Dajaku
Pritchard
Broadhead Stewart
..that was the eleven, and that's how I thought they'd arrange themselves. On the bench were Paterson, Embleton, O'Brien, Younger, Dyce, Johnson, and Kimpioka.
The radio reckoned we had a good ref, as he was from the Championship...do they not know there's a reason he's not in the Championship any longer? Oxford kicked off towards the north stand, but we quickly asserted ourselves on the game.
Gooch's cross was nicked off Stewart's toe by keeper at front post as we pushed forward, then there was a yellow for diving in our box for their player on 5. Perhaps the ref wasn't that bad after all - something he quickly disproved. A minute later, as we applauded, Pritch went through the middle, fed Dajaku coming down the left, and he sorted his feet out before slotting it home across the keeper. Whoop whoop!
Their man went down holding his face after Wright had touched his shoulder as the ball bounced for a throw on halfway. Both were booked, a shocking decision - what was the fourth official looking at from a yard away? Pritch was soon away again, this time setting Gooch off, but the cross floated beyond the intended target, Stewart, at the back post.
We were a bit open down our left, but it was our right that undid us on 36 when Gooch, instead of hoofing it away, went down near the goal line expecting a free that would never be given, and the cross was put away in the simplest of fashions. Why do we have to create our own problems?
A minute later, we got a corner on the right when a visiting defender appeared to punch Gooch's cross behind, but we couldn't convert it.
Their 9 swung a boot at Wright in an attempt to elicit a response, but thankfully Bailey didn't rise to the bait, and again the officials missed it. Two added minutes were played, in which it was confirmed that Dajaku was canny at the "wing" part of wingback, but pretty poor at the "back" part. He's never going to hit a first-time cross with his left peg, and he's nee Allan Johnston. That's only one of the reasons we didn't get the ball to Stewart and Broadhead, which is where it needed to be to break down the Oxford defence.
Level at the break, but we really should have held onto the lead as once again we were the architects of our own downfall. Oh, and I was right about the ref being in our division for a reason.
There were no changes for the second half, and Pritch set things in motion with Gooch going to left back and Wright to right back, and Dajaku pushing up the right - against their right back who was playing left back because of injuries. Confused? I was, just as a the advertising hoarding gave way under the weight of a steward. How we laughed.
A clever ball, after a spell of pressure, on 58, set Broadhead into the box, and his cutback was whacked against the bar and the rebound blocked before Winch fired just wide. This was followed by yet another piece of refereeing nonsense as a free was awarded to Oxford near the left of our box.
Winchester then hit a crossfield pass to Gooch, who cut back and found Stewart on the spot, but the header flashed into the keeper's arms, then the big Scot could only scuff his shot wide when we brought the ball in from the right and it got under his feet.
Down went one of theirs with cramp - on 64 minutes, oh give awwa- so we replaced Dajaku with Embo. Wright is no Dick Malone, as he showed when in their box, turning into his wrong foot, then Pritch's low one from the left just needed someone to hoy themselves at it - but nobody did and the chance was gone.
A free came soon after, twenty yards out and thankfully Luke wasn't around to take it. The shot hit a head in the wall, then Gooch blasted the loose ball a foot over the bar. Embo's shot hit a leg and went for a corner on 71, then Neil shot left-footed over the bar. Pressure led to us getting into their box again, with Broadhead's shot going just wide after Pritch ran out of space in the box. We'd had one decent cross all game before Embo provided another that we couldn't get on the end of. We had another good chance, but the keeper touched it onto his left-hand post for a corner. On 84 Pritch made way for O'Brien - and he went wide right, where Embo had been our biggest threat all afternoon since coming on. Just get another body in the box, man!
Three added minutes were announced, and a boot in Stewart's face eventually got us a free 25 yards out, with the big man having to leave the field after treatment, leaving us bereft of our main target as we took the kick. Suffice to say we didn't score, and missed out on the chance to go joint top. Typical Sunderland.
Man of the Match? Pritch was busy, and instrumental in our goal, but for me Embo was our biggest threat - while he was out on the right.
