MincheryFarmWeb

Adam Chapman has been jailed for 30 months for causing death by dangerous driving.

MFW’s thoughts go to the family of Tom Bryan.

We also hope that Adam comes through this ok

United went back to a 4-3-3 with Beano, Midson and Matt Green up front, and showed a bit of the early season form, winning 2-0 against Mansfield. The midfield also showed signs of the beginning of the season, Clist and Bulman joined by Chapman in the Adam Murray role. Mansfield were missing Luke Foster due to the agreement as part of his transfer, Andy Burgess started at left-back, Rob Duffy up front.

United passed and moved well, probably for the first time since the Wimbledon game. Damian Batt looked back to form bombing forward. Players player of the year Dannie Bulman back to his best, linking well with Clist to give Adam Chapman room to pass the ball with skill and vision. The introduction of Deering and Potter in the second half was the real spark though. Mansfield just couldn’t cope with their runs and movement.

U’s two goals came relatively late. On 75 minutes Alfie Potter left Burgess on the floor and fed Sam Deering. Breaking through the middle Sam’s shot was well saved by Marriott, but the ball broke to James Constable who fired home from inside the 6 yard box. With around 5 minutes left the same two players were responsible for the second. Deering ran into the area and squared the ball for Constable. Beano turned, and with the help of a looping deflection beat Marriott for 2-0.

2-0, a good performance and a well deserved win. The stats of 26 attempts on goal to Mansfield’s 4 says everything. Duffy was ineffectual and subbed. Burgess was made to look foolish repeatedly by U’s wide play. A good time for U’s to come back into form.

Oxford United beat Rushden & Diamonds 1-0 last night to move three points clear at the top of the Blue Square Premier.

Beano came back after suspension, as did Rushden star Lee Tomlin. Alfie Potter was the U’s to miss out with a hamstring injury.

The match can be summed up in five parts:

1. Average Oxford. United were at well under 100% in most areas of the pitch. Too many passes went astray, too many opportunities were gifted to Rushden, especially yet another woeful Rhys Day back header. Too little cohesion in the play all over the park. Beano missing another penalty summed it up nicely.
2. Awful Rushden finishing. Even when gifted opportunities they never really stretched Clarke. It also mostly came from our cock-ups, their creativity wasn’t great.
3. Awful pitch. Has it ever been worse since we moved ground? Not really helping the footy, of either team in this case.
4. Cynical Rushden. Rarely has a team not managed by Steve Evans wasted time so much. Every time the keeper got the ball, every throw in, every free-kick, every random player sitting down but not apparently needing the physio; right from the first whistle through to the point that the ball hit the back of their net. My personal favourite was their keeper running over to the corner flag for no apparent reason (confused as to where the ball was?!) when the ball was back by the goal at a goal-kick (he did also manage to run half way up the pitch to delay the penalty). When will we ever get a ref that books as many as he should for that?
5. Two penalties. The first I couldn’t see from the far end, but the tv highlights (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/8520450.stm) show a pretty clear foul on Wright by Louis. Beano did his best Jonny Wilkinson impression to foil a half-time lead.
   The second seemed harsh at the time, and probably harsh on review. But the defender did have both arms around Green and was easily led into pulling him down. Adam Chapman showing great bottle, stepped up, ignored the gamesmanship, and blasted the ball down the middle for the winner.

Adam Chapman Blasts Home The Winner

So, we didn’t play great, we rode some luck, but we still won. Three points clear, with game in hand is a good position – playing a bit better would be nice though.