Room for Imp-rovement

Fixture: Oxford United 2 Lincoln City 1
Date: 30/4/11

Oxford took on relegation-threatened Lincoln City in the final game of what has been a solid return to the Football League. Prior to kick off end of season awards were made to Harry Worley (Young Player of the Year), Ryan Clarke (Player's Player of the Year) and James Constable (Supporters' Player of the Year). Wilder made just one change to the line up from the Barnet game bringing in Craddock and dropping MacLean to the bench. So the side for the final home game was: Clarke, Batt, Tonkin, Wright, Worley, McLaren, Hall, Payne, Constable, Potter, Craddock. Subs: Eastwood, Kinniburgh, Purkiss, Hanson, Marsh, Woodley, MacLean.

Oxford started the game brightly and almost immediately Potter had a shot from the edge of the area which just went wide of the post. Then moments later Batt fed a ball to Payne into the right hand side of the area but his shot was just tipped over the bar by the keeper.

Oxford were looking comfortable and composed but then, almost predictably, got hit by a sucker-punch on five minutes. An Oxford set piece was broken up by Lincoln who, with Worley stranded in the wrong half of the pitch, broke quickly. The ball was fed out to the left wing with the Oxford defence furiously trying to get back. Batt failed to close down the player properly and he was able to chip a cross over an out of position Clarke and Wright to Hughton, who headed the ball into the left-hand corner of the net.

On 10 minutes Constable was fouled on the edge of the area by Hone which earned the defender a yellow card. Josh Payne took the free-kick but his effort went wide of the post. Lincoln almost doubled their lead on 16 minutes when a shot from 25 yards easily beat Clarke but cannoned back off the crossbar.

Oxford were frustratingly poor, failing to find any rhythm or tempo to their game and could find no way through a solid Lincoln wall who were happy to defend deep and squeeze any space out of the midfield. On 20 minutes though a quickly taken free-kick by McLaren picked out Constable just inside the left-hand edge of the penalty area. Cutting in on his right he took a snap shot which was goal-bound but superbly saved by the Imps keeper, Parish.

A neat little interchange of passes then led to a chance for Craddock, but his shot from the edge of the area tamely went wide of the left-hand post. Then another break by Lincoln saw Clarke superbly save a shot from the edge of the area by Grimes, pushing the ball out for a corner.

Then came arguably the most controversial incident of the first half. A quick break sent Craddock racing clear towards goal. Parish, the Lincoln keeper came charging out of his area and bundled Craddock over. A red card surely? But after consultation with the linesman, the referee only showed the keeper a yellow much to the displeasure of the crowd who roundly booed him. The resulting free-kick only went into the wall causing further uproar from the crowd. The half ended with the referee being given an escort off the pitch and the U's trailing by 1-0.

The second half started with the home fans hoping the team had had the proverbial rocket up the arse from Wilder during the half-time talk. But Lincoln had the first half-chance when a shot from outside the area went just wide of the left-hand post. On 49 minutes a flicked header from Craddock found Constable just inside the area but with the defender forcing him wide his shot only went into the side-netting.

The Imps were still denying the U's any space in their half and any crosses into the area were being easily picked out by the keeper. At the other end Lincoln nearly extended their lead on 55 minutes when a chipped shot from the left-hand edge of the area beat Clarke and came back off the right-hand post. Wilder then made his first substitution of the afternoon bringing off midfielder Paul McLaren and replacing him with striker Steve MacLean.

On 60 minutes a rare event happened - an Oxford goal from a corner! An outswinging corner from Payne created panic in the Lincoln defence. The goalie came a long way out, completely missed the ball only for it to be headed back in by a defender. It fell nicely for Asa Hall in the middle of the 6 yard box, who controlled the ball on his chest then smashed it into the net for the equaliser.

Immediately Wilder made another change, bringing on Purkiss for Batt who had struggled all afternoon - probably as a result of his injury in the last game. The Imps visibly wilted following the goal and four minutes later Potter was presented with a chance by Constable but his shot was well saved by the keeper. Constable was then fouled on the edge of the area and the resulting free-kick from MacLean was again saved by the keeper.

Oxford were now playing with a lot more confidence and Lincoln now looked nervous as they tried to hang on for a point. On 75 minutes their resistance broke as Oxford took the lead. A throw-in on the right led to the ball going to MacLean on the edge of the area. He in turn fed Potter in the area who deftly turned his marker and seemed ready to shoot but Tom Craddock nipped in and fired the ball left-footed past the keeper into the bottom left-hand corner of the net to put the U's 2-1 up.

The day got worse for the Imps on 79 minutes when Constable was crudely hacked down by defender Hone right on the edge of the area. As the Lincoln man had already been booked in the first half he was shown a second yellow and sent off. Payne took the resulting free-kick but the ball went wide. Another lovely passing move involving 4 players put Potter clean through on goal but just as he was about to shoot he managed to lose his footing completely and fall flat on his face!

In stoppage time Oxford had a great chance to seal the points when a cross-cum-shot from MacLean was inches away from the outstretched boot of Constable. Lincoln had one more chance to rescue a point with a free-kick 25 yards out but the ball went over the bar and with it went the game.

The final whistle brought down the curtain on Oxford's home league campaign. They finish the season next Saturday at promotion-chasing Shrewsbury and whatever the result we can feel satisfied with our first season back in the Football League. Hopefully lessons would have been learned and next season we can come back stronger to mount a serious challenge for promotion.

COME ON YOU YELLOWS!