Brewers Droop

Fixture: Oxford United 3 Burton Albion 0
Date: 27/3/11

Oxford continued to hover just outside the playoffs after an comfortable victory against 9-man Burton Albion. Chris Wilder named an unchanged starting line-up with the only change coming on the bench as Aaron Woodley took the place of Jack Midson who has just gone out on loan to Barnet for the remainder of the season. Loanee Saints striker Ryan Doble was unavailable because of his selection for Wales U21. So the line-up for this Sunday afternoon fixture was: Clarke, Batt, Wright, Worley, Tonkin, Heslop, McLaren, Burge, MacLean, Constable, Craddock. Subs: Eastwood, Sangare, Hall, Potter, Hackney, Payne, Woodley.

Oxford started the game brightly and were rewarded with an early goal on four minutes after Worley collected the ball in the middle of the park and drove towards the penalty area. He played a lovely ball into the box to the feet of Burge who moved it first time to Steve MacLean. Slightly scuffing the shot the pace deceived the goalie who was expecting a block-buster and bobbled past him and into the left-hand corner of the net.

Burton's response to this set-back was to immediately press for the equaliser. Worley and Wright had their hands full with the big centre forward, Zola, but they were dealing with the threat superbly. On the counter, it was obvious that Oxford's best form of attack against a towering defence was to exploit the space behind them where they were slow and vulnerable. One such run by Constable was cynically halted by centre-back Parks who scythed the striker down as he was about to break clear.

Half-way through the half a superb run and cross by Tonkin was inches away from the outstretched leg of Craddock and the striker went close again when his header just went wide from an excellent cross by Heslop. At the other end a snap-shot from the edge of the area went heart-stoppingly (or should I say hiccup-stoppingly) close as the ball evaded the fingertips of Clarke and brushed past the post.

With the game evenly poised Clarke made what in hindsight was a match-defining save. A Burton corner was swung deep into the crowded area where Clarke made a save from point-blank range and then reacted quickly to the follow up to somehow emerge with the ball clasped to his chest! On the right hand wing, both Batt and Heslop were starting to cause problems and Craddock managed to put Constable clear but before the ball hit the back of the net the official had raised his flag to signal a very tight offside.

As the half drew to a close Oxford found themselves being drawn more into a long-ball style game and the midfield were being left as mere spectators. So as the half-time whistle blew we all hoped that Wilder and the management team would re-focus the players minds to get the game played on our terms.

The second half started with a substitution as Payne came on for McLaren who had picked up a nasty knock in the first half. A minute into the half Wright was penalised for handball right on the edge of the area and with the wall lined up on the edge of our own 6 yard box we all waited nervously for the free-kick. However, the Burton player taking the kick managed only to chip the ball harmlessly into the arms of Clarke. I think we've all seen harder backpasses!

Ten minutes into the half the game swung decisively in our favour. Craddock lofted a ball over Moore, the last defender, and racing towards goal Constable managed to get in front of the big man whereupon he was clumsily bundled over. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and, as the law dictates, issuing Moore with a red card for being the last man. Tom Craddock then confidently placed the ball on the spot and dispatched it clinically into the right-hand corner to give us a 2-0 lead.

Now with a numerical advantage, Oxford looked to put the game beyond Burton. A free-kick by Payne was headed on by Worley but the ball went just past the post and then a cross by Constable was only partially cleared but Payne made a hash of his shot which was way off target. Then a great run and cross by Tonkin found Craddock, but again his shot was wide of the target.

On 72 minutes a quick counter-attack saw Cradddock play in Constable who then put an inch-perfect pass to MacLean but as he advanced on goal the keeper was out quickly to block the shot. Moments later the striker was again thwarted by the keeper when he pulled off another good save as the ball was volleyed towards goal.

On 76 minutes the numerical advantage increased as Parks was shown a second yellow card for a recklessly dangerous challenge on Constable. Constable himself was also yellow carded in the incident for his reaction following the challenge, hardly surprising considering the damage that could have been inflicted. Wilder sensibly took the decision to bring off Constable, replacing him with Simon Hackney and the winger was soon in the action as he set up Craddock, but again the Burton keeper brilliantly saved the shot.

With added time beckoning, Hackney again played in Craddock who this time managed to round the keeper before rolling it across the area where Steve MacLean was waiting to tuck the ball home from a yard out. Surprisingly, only three minutes were added on and they were comfortably seen out to give us an important three points with a clean sheet thrown in as an added bonus.

The win moved us up a place and only three points outside the playoffs. There are tough games on the horizon starting with this Saturday away at Bury, but it certainly keeps our interest alive going into the latter stages of the season.