Chris Wilder brought back the fit again Alfie Potter for the now unfit Tom Craddock, Jake Forster-Caskey for the flu ridden Sean Rigg and Tony Capaldi for the injured Liam Davis as the U’s lined up with a 4-4-1-1 formation, Potter allowed to be the floating man in behind James Constable.
The
changes seemed to have an instant impact as Oxford took the lead
inside a minute; a Peter Leven corner was met by Johnny Mullins who
despite slipping guided the ball over Chesterfield keeper Tommy Lee
and the covering defender on the line to spark joyous scenes in the
away end. These may have increased minutes later as Jake
Forster-Caskey sent a thunderous header towards the top corner of the
Chesterfield net but this time Lee was there to push the ball away
from goal. United in my eyes were playing some of their best football
of the season, Lee Cox was pulling the strings in midfield and the
roaming Potter was receiving a lot of the ball. Simon Heslop and Andy
Whing were combining well down the right-hand side and the centre
back partnership of Jake Wright and Mullins looked composed against a
toothless Chesterfield frontline.
In
football, you need to take advantage of the opportunities that come
your way to ensure you come out with a positive result. After
Forster-Caskey’s header, United had another golden opportunity as a
loose ball dropped to James Constable on the edge of the 6 yard box.
Somehow, Constable managed to lash the ball over the bar and into the
stand full of Oxford fans. The gasps of horror around the away stand
also had a sense of “that could be a game-changing moment” about
them and when referee Whitestone didn’t give a penalty after
Constable was mugged in the area – this belief grew.
Ryan
Clarke had had little to do in the half apart from collect crosses
and stop one shot from the edge of area but he found himself having
to pick the ball out of the net in first half stoppage time. Andy
Whing conceded a free kick on Oxford’s right and after the ball was
cleared, the resulting corner was delivered into the United area. It
was panic stations at the near post, as the ball dropped; Clarke
dived to claim it but couldn’t grasp a full hold and the ball
rolled out to Liam Cooper who fired high into the roof of the net to
give the hosts an undeserved leveller.
To
give the Spireites some credit, they produced a much better
performance in the second half – although they could have hardly
been any worse. On loan Brennan Dickenson was causing the United back
four many problems and fired a couple of shots wide before almost
decapitating the brave Andy Whing with a powerfully struck shot.
Wilder switched back to his more familiar 4-3-3 after around 65
minutes with the introductions of JP Pittman and Sean Rigg for
Forster-Caskey and Heslop. Chesterfield introduced their own
substitutions in the shape of a formidable trio – Marc Richards,
Jack Lester and Luis Boa Morte. Lester and Richards linked well but
Wright and Mullins were more than comfortable in dealing with them.
Referee
Whitestone further endeared himself to the United faithful when he
failed to send off Liam Cooper and/or Nathan Smith for assaults on
Pittman and Potter within 5 minutes of each other. As the 90 minutes
ticked away, Wilder decided to make his final substitution with Adam
Chapman coming onto replace the tiring Potter. Chapman was barely on
the pitch as Chesterfield took a throw in, broke forward and after a
neat exchange of passes, Richards backheeled the ball into the path
of Chris Atkinson who held his nerve to slot the ball past Clarke and
send the 5000 home fans into jubilation. Mullins was booked during
the celebrations for berating the referee about the lack of time
given to allow Chapman to enter the pitch. If he had been further
onto the pitch, he would have probably tracked Atkinson and perhaps
would have prevented the winning goal.
This
defeat piles more pressure on Chris Wilder ahead of Tuesday’s trip
to fellow strugglers Barnet and with the news that Tom Craddock and
Deane Smalley are out for a further month – his woes are deepened.
In addition to these setbacks, Lee Cox picked up his fifth yellow of
the season against the Spireites and will be suspended for the
journey to North London.
Somewhere
down the line, luck will change for Oxford, whether or not that is
while Chris Wilder is at the club remains to be seen.
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