Oxford labour to disappointing draw
12th November 2008 17:57 | by James KellyBlues 1-1 Nottingham University 2nd
Oxford were left to rue missed chances as Nottingham 2nds gained a hard-fought point against the current league champions. The Blues could feel hard done by, a dubious penalty decision providing the opportunity for Nottingham to level the game, but poor ball retention was key to the inability of the Oxford side to finish the game off well before the equaliser.
The Oxford side saw two changes to the starting line-up from last week, Sam Hall and Thomas Massey both picked up injuries during the week, and were duly replaced the Lucian Weston and Toby Hodgson respectively. The Blues started brightly, with both full-backs, Squires and Farr, finding plenty of time on the ball from which to build attacks. However, it was from a Nottingham corner that Oxford opened the scoring, Toogood picking up the ball inside his own half, before delivering a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Cameron Knight who had broken quickly from the edge of the box. Although Knight’s left-footed shot was parried by the ‘keeper, it only found the onrushing McCrickerd, who guided the ball into the net for his first goal this season.
This goal brought with it a period of dominance by Oxford in which they should have extended the score-line further, with both wingers, McCrickerd and Kelly able to regularly reach the by-line, but unable to find that final ball. Chances for Nottingham were sparse, with Wherry and Hodgson looking imperious at the back, although a mix-up from a corner saw the ball squirm across the Oxford goal line but Farr was grateful to shepherd the ball out of play.
With Oxford leading at half-time 1-0, few would have predicted the final score, but Oxford allowed Nottingham back into the game, with some sloppy passing when in good possession of the ball. The Blues were still creating chances, with Toogood unlucky not to double the lead after good work by both Squires and Kelly. Meanwhile at the other end, Nottingham were starting to gain decent periods of possession but were still unable to test the Oxford ‘keeper Whylly, whose only work thus far had been dealing with corners and the occasional free-kick.
In the 70th minute however, a controversial penalty decision allowed Nottingham to draw level. The Nottingham striker was adjudged to have been hauled down by Squires or Hodgson in what looked like a weak penalty, and despite the best efforts of ‘keeper Whylly to distract the penalty-taker, he was only able to pick up a yellow card as the ball was struck into the back of the net.
As Oxford pushed for a winner, they started to abandon the short passing game that had served them so well, and although the fresh legs of Mayou and Zagajewski provided a new dimension to Oxford attacks, they were unable to create any clear-cut chances. Nottingham meanwhile had seemed to have settled for a point, and the game petered out into a disappointing draw which now leaves a lot of work to be done if Oxford are to regain their place at the top of the table.
