Time-out for anti-football

Fixture: Oxford United 1 Stevenage 2
Date: 15/3/11

Oxford went down to their eighth defeat at home to a Stevenage side intent on using spoiling tactics all evening. After Saturdays superb victory at Port Vale, Wilder dispensed with the flying wingers, Potter and Hackney, bringing in Craddock and MacLean. So the line-up was: Clarke, Wright, Kinniburgh, Worley, Purkiss, McLaren, Clist, Payne, Midson, Craddock, MacLean. Subs: Eastwood, Batt, Sangare, Heslop, Hackney, Constable, Potter.

Against a team of bodybuilding giants, Oxford struggled physically from the very start of the game. Stevenage signalled their intent by conceding as many fouls as minutes in the opening exchanges but the first yellow card of the game was unbelievably awarded against MacLaren for unsporting behaviour! Irony in the extreme in light of what was to come.

While Oxford tried to play their passing game, Stevenage were content to contain and hoof. So it was decidedly against the run of play that the visitors took the lead on 18 minutes. Again, as many times this season, the weak underbelly of our defence was the architect of its own undoing. A hopeful punt from the right hand wing saw the ball loop over to the far post where Worley should have dealt with it fairly comfortably. Instead, losing the flight of the ball and more importantly the man he was supposed to be marking, he allowed Charles to get in behind him and head the ball back towards the goal. Clarke managed to save it but only succeeded in palming it onto Worley where it rebounded off the defender and into the net.

What came next was a "tactic" (I use that word in the loosest terms) employed by Stevenage that is widely condemned by most teams in League 2. After yet another unwarranted yellow card, this time for Wright, and while waiting for the set-piece to be taken, a Stevenage player sat down, then started to writhe around on the ground as if he'd be pole-axed. Yes, this was the famous Stevenage "Time-out" in operation. The rest of their players took this as a cue to run to the touchline to grab drinks and instructions from the management. A stretcher was brought on for the "injured" player but of course he sprang to his feet and casually walked to the touchline. Everybody in the league knows about this tactic and why the officials haven't stepped in and done something about it is an absolute disgrace. Westley and his players are cheats - plain and simple.

Of course the disruption played right into their hands as our players, frustrated at the gamesmanship, temporarily lost their heads and Payne was yellow carded for fouling Charles. It goes without saying that the referee had seen nothing of the continual shirt-pulling by Charles on Payne prior to this. Finally United managed to get a shot at goal but Clist's long-range effort was wide of the goal. There was absolutely no room in a congested midfield for Oxford to get any kind of passing game going and even when Craddock found a way through it, he ended up being forced wide and the chance was gone.

With the game into stoppage time and the Us looking like going in at half time a goal down, they were handed a lifeline. Payne, battling for a ball in the penalty area, was felled by a defender. It looked like a six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other sort of challenge but the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. With MacLean wanting to take the spot-kick, Tom Craddock seized the ball, then confidently strode up to fire the ball past the keeper. A rather fortuitous penalty maybe, but on the balance of what had occurred before hand it felt as if justice had been served.

At the start of the second half we all hoped for a strong start after being buoyed by the late equaliser but instead we found ourselves behind again barely two minutes in. A static back four allowed the ball to be played over them where Reid had timed his run perfectly. With Clarke sprinting off his line, Reid slipped the ball under him and into the centre of the goal.

A couple of minutes later a chance presented itself to Oxford when a free-kick by McLaren was flicked on by Maclean to Wright at the far post, but although the defender got his boot to the ball he could only hit it weakly into the arms of the keeper. Wilder then brought on Hackney and Potter for Craddock and Payne in an effort to try and stretch the play which had become condensed into the midfield but nothing much changed.

Oxford were struggling against what looked like a brick wall at times and apart from two tame efforts by Purkiss and Potter we frustratingly had no end product. With 15 minutes left to play Wilder played his last ace when Constable came on for Midson and almost immediately a chance presented itself to him but he dithered too long on the ball when a shot was offered and the chance went begging. The last good chance of the game came when a neat little flick by Kinniburgh presented a chance for MacLean, but the strikers shot went wide of the post.

The referee finally called time on what was a frustrating evening against a side only intent on cheating. In all honesty we didn't deserve anything from the game because we failed to create a decent chance all night, but Stevenage? In Westley they have one of the most loathsome, arrogant and cynical individuals I've ever had the misfortune to witness in a dugout. Next season we have the prospect of Steve Evans joining him. Oh joy, I can hardly wait!