Having watched it on TV, I think it was an effective but a far from impressive performance. Our two strikers were sharp and made the difference. Our defence was pretty solid, but our makeshift midfield was not always in control. Maybe the pitch and the loss of three key players made it difficult to play fluidly. Against another League Two side (or even one from the top of the NL), we might not have escaped so lightly.
Putting a positive spin on it, we have pocketed some useful TV cash and have a great chance of a plum third round tie. And hopefully, we've turned the corner out of our mini-blip. With the two Macs back on Saturday, I am hopeful we'll play a lot better.
The midfield was not great in possession, but what did we expect with Harris and a youngster in there ? I do wonder what some people expect sometimes. It takes two teams to produce a silky game of football, and last night's match was never going to be that game. It was all about digging in, keeping our defensive shape and avoiding the errors and complacency that dogged the first game. Nonetheless, we put together several excellent attacking moves.
I think some people are too attuned to watching Guardiola's City on TV. If last night was poor, what was the 3-3 draw at Prenton Park........
I thought in the circumstances it was a very impressive performance. We kept Oxford at arm's length for the entire ninety minutes, limiting them to scraps, while creating six or seven very good chances ourselves. In the first half Oxford had a lot of possession in our half of the pitch but never once got behind our back four, and Norwood and Mullin were a constant threat on the counter attack. I thought Micky would be tempted to go with two strikers and that Oxford would struggle to deal with them, and so it proved. After half time Oxford huffed and puffed and forced a succession of corners, but I never once thought we were going to concede.
Individually, Monthe was immense and both full backs were solid, while never really looking to overlap: Bakayogo matched their number seven for pace and he was completely nullified. Ritchie Sutton looked rusty but was never unduly troubled. Harris scrapped and worked hard in midfield and Gilmour showed some nice touches, but there is a big hole there without Banks and McCullough. Cole was classy in possession again and both strikers were excellent.
However, my man of the match was Connor Jennings. It might not have been obvious on TV, but the amount of defensive work he got through was incredible and he was good on the ball as well.
I would be tempted to go with the same tactics on Saturday, albeit with McNulty restored and the midfield duo returning (assuming Banks is fit).