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the cup first round v oxford city

Cowshed Kid

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Bobby Hutchinson
Well that was utter pants.
From the start they strolled like it was a pre-season friendly.
No urgency and littered with unforced, missplaced passes, the main culprit being Ollie B though they were all guilty.
We could and should have been two down within the first 20 mins.
As poor as we were, Oxford played very well for a team struggling two divisions below us and thoroughly deserved the applause we gave them at the end. They played very deep which didn't allow Nors space to get behind them and generally made life difficult for us.
Replay won't be an easy ride.
 
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ian goodison
maybe after beating Exeter last week rovers thought it would be a walk in the park, can,t blame McCulloch missing this was shocking monthe & buxton looked like non-league players Gilmore should have started before harris, I would have pushed mullin closer to nors who was lucky not to see red for pushing their player over the wall, oxford looked like the league team, even though tollit only had 45mins didn,t do a thing, surely can,t play that bad on tues, don,t thet play on a 3g pitch
 
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I am not sure complacency is the right word, but our attitude to the game was not what was required, to put it mildly.

In the first half Oxford sat deep and allowed us easy possession and we did not seem to know what to do with it. We played the game at a snail's pace, with tippy-tappy passing in areas of the pitch where it would not hurt the opposition. There was none of the urgency and intensity we have shown all season. I appreciate that most teams in League Two play an open game and come at us, and we have not come across the tactics employed by Oxford very often this season, but we should have done much better. We were fortunate not to go behind after twenty minutes to the disallowed Oxford goal which looked suspiciously on side from my vantage point, and then huffed and puffed with a few half-chances before Connor's tidy finish. Their equaliser was a defensive calamity after Harris gave the ball away in a terrible area.

I thought with a half time rollocking we would be ok, but the second period was even worse: completely disjointed, no semblance of shape and a team that had apparently forgotten how to play football by the sixty minute mark. The energy and enthusiasm that Oxford brought to the second half seemed to shock us and we completely lost our heads as a team, unable to string two passes together. The second and third Oxford goals were atrocious defensively. Olly Banks had a poor game but should at least get credit for two decent assists that earned us an undeserved replay.

There were poor individual performances across the pitch, but Jay Harris in particular was constantly caught of position and was guilty of giving possession away far too cheaply. Adam Buxton had a bit of a nightmare at left back up against their lively number seven, who was a standout player.

I also thought Micky had a poor game tactically: I thought we should have switched to 442 at half time and Tollitt was a strange choice of substitute and made no impression whatsoever.

The only real positive was the two goals scored by Connor Jennings, who was one of our better performers.

Oxford can count themselves unlucky not to be through, and at least we are in the draw. I don't think we can play that badly again and I expect us to win the replay.
 

ADD

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Firstly like other posters have to say Oxford City were immense - came to play football - closed down so well, well organised through out with 2 banks of 4 and very little time wasting - still going for the outright win at the end. Fast inventive and on their game - they should have won today no doubt about it and were a credit to the NL South.
Now as for us this became an absolute horror show - only Davies played remotely well. True we started well and looked a class above but there was an element of showboating as if we were destined to win easily.
The number of times we passed the ball around our own area I lost count- we would never have done that in L2 so why the hell did they do this - yes we all know the answer they thought they were a cut above! Personally I would be tempted to fine all players aside from Davies 2 weeks wages for lack of effort/ acceptable performance.
Even MM had a shocker - why on earth he brought on Tollitt at half time I have no idea - he needs to go out on loan and not come back until he has found some form - he did nothing.
MM and Steve awful and arguing amongst themselves, Banks starting to believe the hype - so many fancy passes went straight to an Oxford player and gifted them the second goal. Harris lucky to miss connecting with a couple of reckless challenges- should never have started ahead of Gilmour in my view. Mullin did absolutely nothing and Norwood was caught offside way too often. Many will hate me saying this on here I know, but we missed Stockton today as we kept pumping balls up forward with nobody to get onto them so they came straight back at us.
I can honestly say I was embarrassed being a Tranmere fan today - yes we should have expected they would raise their game but to be outplayed for much of the game is so so disappointing. The only saving grace is we kept going and we are still in the hat though we don't deserve to be..
Anyway to anyone still reading this, sorry for my rant but given how well we have shown we can play this season, today was just not acceptable to me. That's it!
 
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Many will hate me saying this on here I know, but we missed Stockton today as we kept pumping balls up forward with nobody to get onto them so they came straight back at us.
I thought Mullin should have gone up front with Norwood in the second half. Nors was just too isolated and we had no physical presence up there.

It was a strange decision by Micky to take Mullin off and then switch to 442 five minutes later, when he only had one natural striker left on the pitch (albeit Connor did score the second goal when he was moved up front).

It was a comedy of errors on and off the pitch today.
 
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Cowshed Kid

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As usual you get things into a bit more perspective after a couple of hours.
Oxford should have won. They'll know that.
Had they been under the cosh all game and snook the draw they'd be cock a hoop.
But similar to us at Posh last season, deep down they'll know they've blown their chance.
And we know what a hurt Posh did to us.
 

Boz

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Not got a great deal to add to the points already made.

While Harris, in common with his team-mates, had a poor game and kept slipping from an early stage, I don't think starting with the same side as Exeter would have won us the game. Sure, we missed McCulloch's defensive shield and usually accurate short passing movements, but too many other regulars were below par today.

I wouldn't totally exonerate Scott Davies from blame, though the goals conceded weren't his fault[ perhaps went to ground too early for the first]. Too many aimless punts up field rather than mixing things up, by bowling the ball out to full-back or wide players, didn't help our cause.

Also felt MM got the tactics and subs wrong. Rovers didn't seem to spread the play enough and Mullin who gave their keeper more to think of than Norwood in the first half. I'd have looked at Zoum for Buxton and maybe DMH, as raw pace can sometimes unsettle an opponent. Haven't seen any post-match interview from Micky, it seemed as though what Oxford did was unexpected, but I'd assume we had them watched. I'd be very wary of assuming the replay is done and dusted.
 

Ian

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As awful as it was, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, this is what Rovers do against lower opposition. Mentally, it was all wrong. They just didn't look bothered at all. The only positive is that we scored three but after the excellent season we are having I expected a lot more.

Credit to Oxford though, they played really well and Davies made a string of excellent saves to keep us in it.

There were poor individual performances across the pitch, but Jay Harris in particular was constantly caught of position and was guilty of giving possession away far too cheaply. Adam Buxton had a bit of a nightmare at left back up against their lively number seven, who was a standout player.
Completely agree here. Harris was awful, he did himself no favours today. Their no.7 was a neat, tidy player.
 
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aldo
well that was a load of &*%?t fine the lot of them . they where thinking just turn up and win they looked like they couldn,t be arsed . harris should not be in a white shirt he was crap all over the pitch it was crap banks had a shocker . manth an steve just couldnt deal with there players . we where crap and real lucky . now as for oxford well played you deserved to win out played us brilliant . now we need to go to there place and show some balls and stop pissing around . rant over
 
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also jaco was going mad at the players . some of em need to take a look at em selves . feel for ben tollitt . but think his time is up he is out of contract in summer just dosent look like he up for it think he needs a move away . only thing to take from the game was connor getting goals . and if crewe had there scouts in watching for saturday that was not the propper tranmere
 
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just seen mm press conference . after the game he looked pissed and honest good on him for that even banks said how poor he was . goodnight god bless
 

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drwhoman

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Good to see how honest Ollie was. I suspect they underestimated the opposition. They will know better next time and maybe get a better grip on the guy who scored three. I know nothing about him. Would he be able to step up to our level?
 

bigmart

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Banks was one of our worst players and there were a lot of them, his passing was awful far too many misplaced passes, the back 4 were awful McNulty making several mistakes Monthe the same, and at times in the second half we were lumping the ball upfield and it came straight back most times, relieved we are still in the cup but we really need to up our game for the replay or we will be out.

Oxford were the much better team and were outstanding full credit to them
 

Ian

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I think what annoyed me most was that we had 90 minutes to put it right. The issue was in their heads as you don’t lose ability overnight. So after the first awful 45 minutes and a rollicking at half time you would have hoped they’d have come out with a better attitude.

I’m expecting much better in the return leg.
 

Boz

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Good to see how honest Ollie was. I suspect they underestimated the opposition. They will know better next time and maybe get a better grip on the guy who scored three. I know nothing about him. Would he be able to step up to our level?
None of the goals were stunners, but they showed good technique and he had quite a bit to do before finding the net. Thsimanga would be certainly worth a punt on by a league side on that showing.

Have now seen the post-match interviews with Ollie and Micky and both are honest. Also seen the goals again. McNulty more at fault for their first than my initial impression, although in modern day refereeing, some might have deemed the challenge on him as a foul, although I didn't see anything wrong with it at the time.

The replay will be on a plastic pitch, which may force Micky's hand with selection as some players have issues with that terrain. However the Crewe game is next and it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the manager makes there.
 
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McNulty won't be able to play on the plastic, although our record on artificial pitches in recent seasons is actually very good.

It is dangerous to make knee-jerk reactions to games like yesterday's as you could make a case for dropping all ten outfield players involved. However, I would like to see Zoum come back in for Buxton at left back. Adam is an excellent player but he does get exposed by pace in that position and I think we need to restore the natural balance of a left-footer on that side. With two tough away matches coming up, I think Gilmour (who did ok yesterday) might also come in for Cole, who was on the periphery of the game.
 
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ian goodison
I,ve had a chance to calm down but to concede 3 goals the way we did is unacceptable banks saying what he did cuts no ice with me I know they were apart from connor all crap in the 2nd half buxton looked & played a pub player, harris is a liability & tollit has had it they should be shipped out
 

Boz

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McNulty won't be able to play on the plastic, although our record on artificial pitches in recent seasons is actually very good.

It is dangerous to make knee-jerk reactions to games like yesterday's as you could make a case for dropping all ten outfield players involved. However, I would like to see Zoum come back in for Buxton at left back. Adam is an excellent player but he does get exposed by pace in that position and I think we need to restore the natural balance of a left-footer on that side. With two tough away matches coming up, I think Gilmour (who did ok yesterday) might also come in for Cole, who was on the periphery of the game.
Is Stockton fit enough to play in the Northwich game? If so, he might be in with a chance with a good showing, although I felt Mullin was unlucky to be hooked at h/t yesterday and Norwood seemed out of sorts and wound up. Buxton has had some reasonable games at left back,but would agree with Zoum being recalled, especially as he may have a point to prove against a former club. That gives rise to the Buxton v Caprice at right-back debate. Would agree with Gilmour replacing Cole.
 
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The highlights confirmed that all three of Oxford's goals were gifts, atrocious defensively, albeit it was a good finish by Kabongo for the second. Our three goals were very good, the only moments of quality we produced all game.
 
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