•                                         Match Report by Laurence Reade            Back to News page
  
  Scunthorpe United 2 (Hayes, Dalglish) Oxford United 0
  United continued their quest to deny themselves a playoff spot with another disjointed performance, that once again lacked a viable,"Plan B." McCarthy replaced Bound but unsurprisingly there were no other changes from Saturday's team. Oxford started brightly as Oldfield did well to set up Robinson who saw his shot deflected wide for a corner. Soon after McNiven got in on the act blasting a 25 yarder over the top left hand corner.
  Scunthorpe's reaction was swift as Hayes went down in the box under Crosby's challenge, Crosby seemed to tweak his groin as the Oxford stopped. Fortunately Ford was on hand to pass the ball behind for a corner, and Crosby was to struggle for the remainder of the game. The corner was whipped in and McCarthy was caught out of postion as Calvo-Garcia powered a header towards the top right corner but Woodman was able to claw the ball away, at full stretch.
  On the quarter hour Scott was able to hold off the attentions of two defenders before finding Oldfield who leaned too far back and lifted his shot way over the bar.
  Oxford's inability to clear the ball from their own defence was exposed as Hayes shot over as United clearance from a corner was charactistically weak. Oxford were as disjointed as was the case against Exeter, the forward 3 lacked anything that remotely resembled an understanding, and the resulting 2 in the midfield were swamped whenever Scunthorpe chose to attack. The situation was exacerbated by an appalling Referee. Mr Laws was everything I hate about Division 3 referees, Inconsistant, Card happy, and incapable of using his Linesmen. An illustration of this was the first Scunthorpe goal on 29 minutes. Crosby was booked (correctly in my opinion) for ending a mazy Stanton run with a trip. Crucially, Crosby was not allowed to take his place in the defence and watched helplessly as the kick hit the right post before rebounding conveniently to the right for Hayes to stroke home. Oxford fought back as Savage found McNiven whose cross found Scott's head but the ball whistled wide.
  The moment of real controversy happened straight after this as Savage crossed to the back of the box and McCarthy was blantantly held back by Jackson but Referee Laws unbelievably gave a free kick to Scunthorpe.
  Oxford were showing great commitment but lacked the ability to create gilt edged chances. The Iron were happy enough to wait for Oxford to misplace a pass and attack with Beagrie looking to be their principal outlet. Hunt and Savage were overelaborating and Ford has yet to play well since Atkins has adopted this version of 5 at the back.
  At half time we were treated to the sight of two police horses and two dog handlers in the worst case of overkill I have seen this season. So clueless was the stewarding, that I was not allowed to bring in my camera, and other fans were told to leave their takeaways from the nearby McDonald's outside the ground. Even more stupidly I was not searched, so presumably a photograph of a Cheeseburger is more dangerous than a flick knife at Glanford Park
  Crosby needed a fitness test before starting the second half and since no tactical changes occurred it was no great surprise that Scunthorpe made by far the brighter start. A diagonal ball from Beagrie on the left found Kilford 25 yards out in the centre but he wasted the chance by blasting high over the bar.
  United looked powder puff up front as Hunt was pulled down 30 yards out. Ford's flighted free kick was headed back in to the box by Crosby at the back of the box, but Evans was able to catch the box under absolutely no pressure. Oxford's final ball was almost universally poor and Scunthorpe continued to look dangerous on the break.
  Savage limped off as he sensed he was about to be substituted, and Omoyinmi was able to add a little spark up front but with the usual lack of an end product
  On 68 minutes Oldfield was able to catch Strong in possession. He carried the ball to the right edge of the box before shooting high and wide with Omoyinmi screaming for the ball in the centre. That was to be his last contribution as he replaced by Jefferson Louis. Louis is having a massive crisis of confidence. He obviously cannot read a game well enough and the fans have got on his back when he seen watching a pass aimed for his consumption. This game was to be no exemption and it is becoming obvious that as it stands Jefferson does not know how to play any other system than 4 4 2. A lot like many other players it seems..
  Oxford finally switched to 4 4 2 with 10 minutes left as Basham replaced the unlucky Waterman and as McCarthy was pushing forward at every opportunity it was always possible that Oxford could and would be caught on the break, but given the desperate situation, desperate measures were called for, indeed it was almost surprising that Woodman didn't fancy his chances and make his way forward.
  Of course Oxford did get caught, as Omoyinmi lost possession on the left to Sparrow. His low diagonal ball found Dalglish in the centre, 25 yards out. He rifled his shot past Woodman into the top left corner, sparking a pitch invasion from the home fans and the unnecessary presence of a grey police horse. The Oxford fans headed for the exits and missed the final insult as Hunt was harshly sent off for an "X, " rated challenge on Calvo-Garcia.
   Oxford lost this game purely on the tactics, the team were unable to compete in two vital areas. In the midfield where we were outnumbered, and up front where the 3 pronged attack failed to gel or to even to be close enough to each other to attempt some semblence of team work.
  To finish with, I've just left Donington services and heard that Ian Atkins has blamed our lack of a playoff place on the fans. It's not often that I quote dear old Boyo but on this occasion I think he's hit the nail on the head.
  "When will Atkins realise that his tactics have lost us the game. The fans don't control the tactics, what does it take for him to admit, just once, that he got it wrong."

Next Match-Home to Bristol Rovers 21st April 2003 kick off 3pm

             

            
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