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[Nonleaguer]

Just back from the match and yet again am disappointed at how the officials are so swayed by the bigger clubs. James Constable was unprofessional throughout with an early dive that should have merited a yellow card, he then constantly abused both the referee and his assistant. Finally after receiving many second chances he was eventually awarded a yellow card which by rights should have been his second. On top of this, the ungentlemanly conduct of their player who blasted the ball at Robbie Lawton as he retreated leading to a yellow for Robbie showed what we have to contend with week in week out. Aside from this rant, the team soaked up a lot of pressure but weren't overly troubled with the home sides efforts. The penalty taker hit the ball at the right height for Coburn to turn round the post and it was obvious that Alty were frustrating them.

Burns and Little were struggling up top with Burns looking not 100% match fit and perhaps carrying a little too much timber. But Densmore should have really levelled when he was presented with the sort of opportunity you only get once against a title contender. Robbie is still recovering from the long lay off and several passes were easily intercepted by the opponents. Overall, the lads deserved a great deal of credit and tonight can rightly hold their heads high just showing the team are capable of digging deep and pulling something out of the bag. In response to the side playing better away from home raised in a post elsewhere I believe that there is less of a moan and groan element who travel, then again if you pay your money you are entitled to an opinion but if there is a chorus of discontent it seems to filter down to the players and adds that extra pressure.

[markecky]

How did Bryan look?

[Nonleaguer]

Antonio showed a few glimpses of having potential but at present is still needing to gain fitness and matches under his belt. It seemed that he was lacking a degree of confidence to take players on but I'm sure this will come over the coming weeks. Given that this was his first appearance he didn't do too badly.

[markecky]

Yeah, it seems he hasn't played much football.  Thanks

[RedhillAlty]

I agree with Non-Leaguer. We made the most of the talent at our disposal today and this was a very commendable effort. Had Oxford concentrated more on the quality they have instead of cheating and moaning, this game had 4 or 5-0 written all over it.
I dont know why Referees put up with the antics of the likes of Constable (and he did the same last season) as an early yellow would  put a quick stop to his badgering, moaning and diving.
We desperately need a another quality front man - a fit Dale Johnson would be ideal but I realise he is out for the season.
Bryan and Burns tried and wont have a go at them for that reason, but unfortunately neither are quite Conference standard. Neither is in the same league as Senior or Denham.

[tottenham alty]

I went today and was heartened by our performance, I hope the players realise that they really put on a good show against the league's top side.

The lads, including the strikers, did a good job.

It needs to be remembered that we are missing Denham, Johnson and Senior.

We should good spirit and could have easily scored a couple.

Lawton did look a bit rusty but showed some flashes of his midfield nous when he came on, intelligent passer and good scrapper.

We are in a good position to kick on from here, and start getting some just rewards for our efforts - we have repeatedly shown that we are a good footballing side this season.

COMON ALTY!!!!!

[markecky]

I agree with Non-Leaguer. We made the most of the talent at our disposal today and this was a very commendable effort. Had Oxford concentrated more on the quality they have instead of cheating and moaning, this game had 4 or 5-0 written all over it.
I dont know why Referees put up with the antics of the likes of Constable (and he did the same last season) as an early yellow would  put a quick stop to his badgering, moaning and diving.
We desperately need a another quality front man - a fit Dale Johnson would be ideal but I realise he is out for the season.
Bryan and Burns tried and wont have a go at them for that reason, but unfortunately neither are quite Conference standard. Neither is in the same league as Senior or Denham.

I don't think its fair to say Bryan is not Conference standard.  We need to see him fit first.  You don't spend that long at United without having something.  Nicky Clee was crucified within 10 minutes of signing and then improved 500% when fit(er)

[YellowHoods]

Oxford fan here.

I found yesterday frustrating but, from our point of view, comfortable.

I wouldn't disagree with you about Constable's actions, but he is his own worst enemy on that score. After one or two "dives" the referee lost interest in his later claims, even though some were justified. "Boy crying wolf" springs to mind.

That said, some of your time-wasting tactics were annoying, particularly at substitutions.

And I cannot believe you are claiming the referee was biased towards Oxford! He seemed to be doing his best to give us nothing for large chunks of the game.

Overall, we deserved the win and looked comfortable right up until the late goal-line clearance which caused a few heart murmurs around the ground.

Your fans were few in number, but did well vocally compared to many this season.

Yesterday was not a vintage Oxford performance but we got the win, which is the difference since Wilder took over. Good luck.

[Leon]

A very worthy and respectable performance by the team yesterday. The defence was excellent (Williams goes from strength to strength) - it was just a shame that injuries and suspenions robbed us of our attacking threat. That said, I'm not sure we deployed what we had in the best way - Burns, when he was playing wide left, struggled to get into the game and I'm not sure Clee was best used in the hole between attack and midfield. I thought the formation we started the second half with (Clee wide left, Burns up top and Little in the hole) was better.
Bryan did struggle but as others have said, he can't be judged till match fit.

But in general though, well done to all for a commendable efort.

[Paul Cain's Chip Pan]

Yesterday was not a vintage Oxford performance but we got the win, which is the difference since Wilder took over. Good luck.

The ability to "win ugly" is often the difference between success and failure.

[YellowHoods]

Yesterday was not a vintage Oxford performance but we got the win, which is the difference since Wilder took over. Good luck.

The ability to "win ugly" is often the difference between success and failure.

I think you're right. Our 5-0 v Grays was complete domination for 90 minutes. Yesterday was much closer but I always thought we'd win, despite much less pretty play.

[Paul Cain's Chip Pan]

Yesterday was not a vintage Oxford performance but we got the win, which is the difference since Wilder took over. Good luck.

The ability to "win ugly" is often the difference between success and failure.

I think you're right. Our 5-0 v Grays was complete domination for 90 minutes. Yesterday was much closer but I always thought we'd win, despite much less pretty play.

Without having seen you play this season, it very much appears as though it's your year. I see no disgrace in our result yesterday and compared to the thrashings we've had off you in the past I think we've come a long way.

Good luck in your quest for a return to the Football League.

[crossie]

I also went to the game yesterday and I felt that in the first half the ref was letting Oxford get away with a few things! C*ntstable should have been booked with in the the first 20mins for back chatting to the ref non-stop and diving in the box! He also carried on the back chat into the second half and eventially got a yellow! Not picking at hairs but if the ref took control of this earlier maybe he would have been shown a red in the second with 15mins to go, things might have been different! Also don't know if anyone else saw this but the linesman and the ref appeared to have missed a bookable offence with Clee and Oxfords number 6! Their player lashed out at Clee I think and went un-noticed! Robbie was unfortunate to get booked during that free kick the hand ball was not deliberate he turned his back and they took aim!

Other than that we played ok, and I did not leave the game feeling that we should have won etc! For the amount of players out for various reason we put a good fight up! Man of the Match for me was either Clee or Coburn!

[Butty]

Come on Ross, lets go crying to the FA with our video footage

[JT]

Yeah i think like everyone else who was at the game, I was pleased with the performance under the circumstances, and although we did try hard, it was a fair result.  Wasn't convinced by Bryan but as said above, hopefully he will find his feet given abit of time.

Got a little while now to recover from any knocks, Senior and hopefully Denham back and lets look forward to the next 3 games, which are very winnable in my opinion.