First off, I thought Cheltenham were a far better team than they're being given credit for here. Some sharp passing, a clear game plan which they played to perfection and some good players. I thought their centre backs and #10 in particular looked very good players. Yes they rode their luck with the missed pen and the Sykes miss but on another day, they see that out and have a vintage 3 points on the road. Also, after the way OUFC (and particularly Taylor!) behaved at MK, and on a number of other times this year, I just can't get annoyed with other teams time-wasting any more. I've finally seen what it's like to be the team doing the time-wasting, and seeing home fans frothing at the mouth, and it's absolutely glorious. If we do it, we can't begrudge any other team doing it to us.
That said, we looked very sloppy. A poor performance pretty much all round. Kane in particular looked not all there, to the extent that I actually started to wonder if he might not be fit or his head might be completely elsewhere. All over the pitch we lacked movement or imagination. We had our moments - the ball through for the pen, the build-up to the Sykes chance first half, the goal - but always looked a little bit flat. Maybe the players were still a bit tired from Wednesday? I said midweek that I didn't think we'd played that well, and had had some very obliging opponents to perhaps make us look better, and I saw more of that today. Either way, whatever it was, it was disappointing.
Agree with some of the criticism being levelled at MacGuane - he did very little today. I fear he has a bit of the Agyei about him, that he's just lacking that spark of aggression you need to excel in the men's game. Alongside players like Sykes, Brannagan, Taylor and Williams, it sticks out a mile. That's fine in some games, but today that midfield was a battle, and he didn't get stuck in to it enough for me.
On a positive note, the Whyte resurgence continues, changed the game when he came on. Gave us energy and menace. I did wonder though why you would bring on Whyte and then switch to a midfield diamond with him as the 10 - he did fine there, but up against a tiring LB he was making absolute hay. As Cheltenham tired, spaces started to open up on the wings, so I'm not sure why at that point you would opt to pack the middle of the park rather than try to get Whyte and Sykes 1-on-1 with knackered fullbacks. Still, it worked I suppose. Also, Sykes has, what, 4 goals in his last 5? Turning into such a key player for us. I've got a nasty feeling clubs are going to come in for him in January, especially with the contract situation not sorted. After not being able to score at all for the past three years he's hitting a purple patch at just the wrong time!
In the grander scheme of things, I think it's a glass-half-full rather than half-empty point. All teams have off days over the course of a season and this was very much one of ours. It's a positive that our off day ended with a point rather than nothing, and marks a growth in the team, too. How often have we seen Oxford lose games like that over the years? If we fail to make anything of this season, there will also inevitably be grumbles about dropping 5 points to Cheltenham, but, as I said above, even though we should have won today, that does them a disservice. They're a much better side than some of the dross we've seen this season.
Onwards and upwards. See you at Lincoln.
