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Match Report
by Laurence Reade
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page Oxford United 2 (Basham 2) York City 0 Firstly a huge Thank you to Laurence for entertaining us this season with his match reports, We all look forward to Reading them again next season, Have a great Summer and Thank you Sincerely from the Editor. Was it really ever on? Did we really have a chance? The bald statistic says that for around an hour we were going to make to the playoffs, but Oxford's chances had been blown in a steady succession of games after the visit to Arsenal. Whitehead finally got to make a start replacing the injured Supporters' player of the year, Savage, and he was to make an almost immediate impact. His forceful run down the right channel was ended by a crude challenge by the corner flag. Taking the free kick himself, the in swinging cross evaded keeper Ingram, and Basham gratefully bundled the ball home. Bliss, and only two minutes gone! For a change Oxford continued to press and Scott's header from a pinpoint McNiven cross whistled just wide, Whitehead and Ford were carving up the York defence at will and Robinson and McNiven were raining in the crosses. York were simply not being allowed to build as Basham harried Parkin into a hasty back pass, which Scott intercepted but planted wide. It took a full 18 minutes for the visitors to muster a decent attack as a Shandran cross/shot from the goal line was tipped over the bar by an alert Woodman. but the half belonged almost in its entirety to Oxford. On 27 minutes Hunter was brought down in the right corner and Whitehead's free kick found Scott whose header flew wide of the right post. On the half hour the ground reached delirium point as news of former OUFC triallist Martin Gritton's goal at Sincil Bank filtered through, and Darrell managed to get a coded message through on the scoreboard. Andy Woodman discreetly checked the score with the front row of the OM stand. As the half came to a close a thunderous Whitehead half. He dribbled past 2, before putting a slide rule diagonal ball to Scott whose radar continued to be badly calibrated as he fired wide from 25 yards. At half time the atmosphere seemed odd. True we were leading, Torquay were leading, we were playing well (Whitehead in particular), but would one goal in either game be enough? Were we really 45 minutes from the playoffs? York replaced Ingham with Stockdale but Oxford started the second half in exactly the same fashion as they finished the first, total domination. York chased as Whitehead and Ford continued to torture them and things were to get crazy on 49 minutes. Firstly news filtered through that Torquay has gained a penalty. Most assumed the score was now 2 0 at Sincil Bank but those who watched for Darrell's signal realised that it was not that easy. Russell's ridiculous attempt at a chip was caught by Lincoln 'keeper Marriott, and seconds later the Kassam was back on tenterhooks. Thankfully this tension was not being felt by the players, as Basham beat Brass before laying back to McNiven who watched his rasping shot fly wide. Soon after Scott in midfield put a through ball through to Basham via at clip off of Brass, but the forward was able only to fire wide. On 60 minutes York finally managed to counter , and a Fox free kick was met by Parkin on a forward foray but he put his free header wide left. United took the hint by scoring a minutes later. A smart throw in routine on the left allowed Ford to draw two defenders before setting up Robinson who crossed in from near the corner flag. Basham stole in front of a leaden footed Parkin to plant his header in to the top left corner from 6 yards. So we'd fulfilled our side of the bargain.... A low Bullock shot was well saved by Woodman and former U's man Lee Nogan flitted around trying to annoy his former employers but United never looked to be any danger of conceding. Scott produced a candidate for pass of the season finding Whitehead with a glorious diagonal ball to the left and Stockdale did well to catch the stinging 25 yard effort. Of course it was all too good to be true, United were joyously playing out the last few minutes of the regular season and the fans were mentally booking their seats for at least two more games, when on 86 minutes the bombshell came through that a typical Lincoln lump forward had caught the Gulls' defence too far up and Simon Yeo had managed to nip through and chip former OUFC loanee Kevin Dearden. We knew we needed a miracle but this dénouement was cruel and the last few minutes of the game were played out in near silence, and the season quietly slipped away. It should never have come to that.....see you all in July.
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