Oxford United 0 Southend United 1 (Rawle)

I've had to take a few minutes peace and quiet before
trying to write this one. This was one of the most
frustrating games I've ever seen. Poor passing , poor
refereeing and little end product. At least Whelan
didn't score.
Atkins took the view that you shouldn't change a
winning side and unsurprisingly Oxford made a bright
start attempting to move the ball expansively which
meant chances were always going to be created - by
BOTH sides. 
In the 11th minute McNiven put a glorious ball
through to Oldfield whose snap shot hit the crossbar
rebounding out to Scott whose shot was brilliantly
palmed way by Flahaven. The open play was allowing a
Southend side lacking confidence to find their feet
and after 17 minutes Graeme Jones had a weak shot
easily saved by Woodman.
After 19 minutes the visitors broke the deadlock.
Oldfield failed to clear the ball properly from the
Oxford box and the ball was quickly passed to Beard on
the right. His low cross found Rawle  unmarked in the
centre and his header from 4 yards beat Woodman
easily.
Many Fans thought Oxford had equalized minute later
but Scott's 25 yard lob was disallowed for offside.
Oxford's next attack saw a good ball from Oldfield to
Scott but the former Brentford man shot straight at
Flahaven.
Southend, playing 3-5-2 were making the extra
midfielder count and Oxford's midfield was sitting too
deep making the final ball often too long and
inaccurate.
In  the 40th minute Hunt played a diagonal ball down
the left channel to Scott. His shot was caught by
Flahaven diving full length to his left.
The final action of the half saw an Oldfield cross
find Basham. His shot  was easily gathered by
Flahaven.

The second half saw Southend alter formation to 4-4-2
and became far happier to soak up whatever was thrown
at them. Oxford still had the lions share of the
possession  and became increasingly frustrated as
Southend doggedly defended and the referee's decisions
became extremely inconsistent.
In the 50th minute Robinson put Basham through but
the Southend defence quickly charged the ball away for
a corner. Hunt whipped the ball in and Southend
player's arm clearly rose above the melee and punched
the ball clear. The referee saw nothing.
Waterman had been booked (3 times this season) and
with the referee capable of almost any decision he was
replaced by Bobby  Ford. His vision helped Oxford's
cause but the home side lost  a lot of his snap and
snarl. This was noticeable especially when Southend
were in possession.
On the hour Ford squared to Oldfield but his shot
fizzed wide of the left post. A minute later the same
combination found Oldfield through on goal but the
Southend defence recovered well to force a corner.
Hunt's corner was deep to Crosby, unmarked at the back
of the box. With Flahaven's goal at his mercy he shot
wide.
Oxford were huffing and puffing but sadly lacking the
necessary quality to penetrate a determined defence
that was never anything other than ordinary. An
example of this was when Whelan clumsily brought down
Basham at the edge of the centre of the box. The free
kick was wasted when a little composure may well have
produced a chance.
Chances came and went but Oxford were only to create
one more gilt edged chance when Hackett's through ball
found Omoyinmi clean through. Flahaven came off his
line quickly to produce a stunning point blank save.
The final action saw another through ball for
Omoyinmi to chase. Always likely to be second to the
pass he clattered Flahaven and picked up a booking for
his efforts. Southend's Jenkins was also booked  for
his part in the ensuing scrum. The last of many things
that referee Penn missed was that Flahaven had punched
Omoyinmi as well...
This I suspect was the equal and opposite of the
Darlington game. Last week we did a smash and grab
raid and this week we were the victims. What goes
around comes around I suppose...


Oxford United                                                                               Southend United
Andy Woodman                                                                              Darryl Flahaven
Scott McNiven                                                                                Damon Searle
Matt Robinson                                                                                Leon Cort
Andy Crosby                                                                                   Phil Whelan
Matthew Bound                                                                              Kevin Maher
David Oldfield                                                                               Tesfaye Bramble   
James Hunt                                                                                     Mark Rawle 
David Waterman (Booked 24 Foul)                                               Mark Beard    
David Savage                                                                                  Neil Jenkins (Booked 90 Retaliation)
Andy Scott                                                                                      Graeme Jones 
Steve Basham                                                                                  Jay Smith
 
Subs                                                                                                 Subs
Sam Ricketts                                                                                    Daniel Gay
Bobby Ford (for Waterman 57)                                                       Stephen Broad
Manny Omoyinmi (for Basham 70) (Booked 90 Foul)                    Stuart Thurgood (for Maher71)
DeanWhitehead                                                                               Barrington Belgrave
Chris Hackett (for Savage 85)                                                         Stephen Clark (for Rawle 88)







            
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