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Oxford finished the regular season with a defeat away at Eastbourne. A much changed U’s side, resting a number of regulars went down 0-1, a result that saves Eastbourne  from relegation.  The only goal came in the second half, Simon Weatherstone netting from the spot after Beast was ridiculously penalised for handball, even though he wasn’t actually facing that way at the time.

U’s finish in 3rd place, and play Rushden & Diamonds in the play-off semis.

Oxford United lost 0-1 at Stevenage last night to pretty much put paid to our championship ambitions for the season.

On a wet and windy night, with perhaps the worst pitch played on this season, United played with no composure and little thought. The ball was treated like a hot potato and quality was sadly missing. Stevenage frankly weren’t that much better, but at least did show some movement off the ball, which gave them attacking options. The only goal of the game was a penalty 5 minutes into the second half, Clist bringing down Beardsley, Laird sending Clarke the wrong way from the spot.

I think the fact that our man-of-the-match for the second game running, maybe even third game, was Jake Wright says a lot about us as an attacking force as we approach Easter.

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.