Generation Ox

When Stevie Kinniburgh first uttered the words “high press” in the first minute of commentary of United’s match against Plymouth, few could have imagined he would uphold such a committed position for the full 90 minutes. Nevertheless, the Scotsmen unremittingly ploughed through an hour and a half of desperate urging for United to get up the pitch and praising of those who did at every opportunity. Though Kinniburgh’s co-commentary – an admittingly more insightful style than Peter Rhoades-Brown’s usual ‘knock it and run’ analysis – was right. United’s committed pressure unsettled a Plymouth side who had four points from their last two games and were playing in front of 2,000 fans, and from the half hour mark onwards Oxford were – without it ever becoming one sided – the more likely force, winning out by a narrow margin in the end to make it three wins from three and keep their all important momentum going.   Almost as instilled was the ethos of pressing in the player’s mi...

Momentum is always hard to come by, but even more so in this most irregular of seasons. Almost half his week’s set of League 1 fixtures were postponed due to Covid, and although United avoided that this time, they were not so lucky a week earlier when they had been due to play Bristol Rovers. That was United’s fourth game called off due to the virus – all in the opposition ranks and all coming after wins for Oxford. It has made building momentum harder, something which has plagued the other teams in the division too. Shrewsbury Town beat three of the top four in their three matches prior to a Boxing Day clash with Wigan, but they would have to come from behind just to salvage a point against the basement dwelling Latics. Shrewsbury’s new manager bounce may have played a role in some of those results, but there is no such excuse for other sides in the division who are also finding consistency hard to come by. Plymouth, for example, seem to win 5-0 one week and lose by a simila...

An early Christmas present was offered to Oxford in the form of out of shape Northampton on Tuesday night. Four goals, three points and a clean sheet an almost perfect way for Karl Robinson’s men to head into the festive period. Although it was an injury and suspension-hit Northampton side, great credit does have to be given to Robinson’s men whose desire to stick to their game plan led to an emphatic second half performance.   With the Cobblers taking much of the pace out of the game in the first period, it looked as though Oxford would be sucked into a physical battle with Keith Curle's men – not a good sign when playing the team who have won the second most aerial duels in the division.   And this showed in the first 45, as Northampton dominated in most aerial statistics, stopping United getting any momentum in the game.  During the First Half A change in momentum United set about rectifying this in the second half, and the intensity of their passing and moveme...

It seems fitting that the last game without fans for Oxford was a nil-nil on a cold Tuesday night.  But those are the kind of outings Oxford fans can look forward to from now on, with a maximum of 2,000 supporters being allowed back into matches after this week’s tie against Hull. With this you can also expect to see a real momentum shift for all teams, with even a small number of fans still likely to make a big difference and there will probably be a return to the usual home advantage.  Some sides have tried to combat the lack of fans by filling the seats with youth players and staff, notably in Oxford’s away matches at Fleetwood and Gillingham - and it worked for the Cod Army whose home advantage of +25% the second best in League One. Though for the other teams in the division, there has been much less joy in these home games. The gap between the average points per game at home and away is smaller than it has been for the last decade, with just 0.12 more points being g...