In
the end it wasn't much of a contest. Oxford didn't play badly –
though perhaps not quite as well as we are capable of – but were
beaten by a team that was superior in every department.
Oxford
certainly started the brighter of the two teams and created the early
chances. The best of these seemed to bounce around the Leeds box and
could have ended up anywhere. In the end, the hosts were let off the
hook as the ball bounced into the goalkeeper's grateful arms.
The
hosts had started nervously but began to grow into the game after the
first 15-20 minutes. On-loan youngster Sean McGinty suffered a
particularly torrid evening on his debut at left back – with
regular left-back Tony Capaldi moving into midfield to fill in for
the injured Lee Cox. McGinty's evening would probably have been made
far worse if the locals – who regularly piped up with chants of
'Stand up if you hate Man U' – knew where he was on loan from! Adam
Chapman was frequently pulled out of position to cover McGinty,
earning himself a booking and cheers from the travelling support
after felling the odious El Hadji Diouf.
Leeds
took the lead midway through the half when Rodolph Austin unleashed a
powerful strike from the edge of the area, which stung Clarke's hands
en route to the net. If I was a Leeds supporter I would probably be
raving about the finish, but from an Oxford perspective Austin should
never have been given so much space and Clarke could maybe have saved
it.
As
soon as Leeds had the goal advantage they took the match by the
scruff of the neck and Oxford were barely given a sniff. They doubled
their lead soon after, when Potter was dispossessed (with more than a
hint of a foul about the challenge) in the middle of the park. Sam
Byram skipped through the Oxford defence and then lobbed a helpless
Clarke with an exquisite finish to put Leeds two goals to the good.
It could have been three before the break when Diouf got the wrong
side of the defence, but Clarke did well to block the shot and keep
the deficit to two at half time.
Leeds
continued to control the game after the break and had a penalty
appeal turned down after a goalmouth scramble. Austin came close to
adding his second when he unleashed a another ferocious shot from a
good 25 yards, which hit the bar. The inevitable third goal came when
an unmarked Tom Lees rose to meet a cross from the right wing and any
remote chance of a comeback was well and truly over.
The
Oxford support, who had become a bit subdued since falling behind in
the first half, came alive midway through the second half when it
became clear that the match was over as a contest and made themselves
heard even over the cheers for the third goal.
Tyrone
Marsh made his first senior appearance when he was introduced for the
final ten minutes and his youthful enthusiasm and energy were a
breath of fresh air as he chased every ball that came within 20 feet
of him. If he had been given more time on the field he might even
have bagged his first goal, but in the dying stages of the game, even
when United did get forward it was done half-heartedly and with half
an eye on the long coach trip home.
There
are still plenty of positives to take from the match. We passed the
ball around okay at times and didn't disgrace ourselves, even though
we failed to provide much resistance to the hosts. We can take
several lessons from the way Leeds handled the game – from their
superior passing and control, and the calm manner in which they saw
out the game. If we can take those lessons and apply them to our
league campaign, it won't have been a wasted exercise at all.
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