FC Boro

Oxford United stay top of the Blue Square Premier after beating Boro this afternoon. Goals from Alfie Potter and Adam Murray were enough to give the U’s victory although one of their former strikers, Yemi Odubade hit back late on, but it was too little too late for Graham Westley’s side.

Westley dropped Lee Boylan in favour of a 5 man midfield which welcomed back Joel Byrom after an impressive substitute appearance against Ebbsfleet on Tuesday night. Ashley Bayes also retained his place although Chris Day was back after a recent thumb injury. Westley also recalled former Oxford players in Yemi Odubade and Eddie Odhiambo back on the bench. Oxford started the in form pair of James Constable and Matt Green while Simon Clist carried the midfield alongside Adam Murray.

Boro started the game as the better side and had a few chances to open the scoring. The best chance was a long shot from Darren Murphy being saved only as far as Chris Beardsley, but the former Kettering striker was denied by a great saving tackle by Rhys Day. That tackle cost the ex Aldershot man any further involvement and he was replaced by Luke Foster. The game was played at a high tempo and tempers flared when Constable seemed to elbow Scott Laird. How the BSP topscorer stayed on the pitch I don’t know, but I suppose it proves that Oxford are still a ‘big’ club?

Boro seemed to get distracted after the ‘elbow’ incident and paid for it when Alfie Potter was left unmarked before finishing to give the home side the lead. Oxford nearly doubled their lead moments later when a poor clearance by Bayes only found Constable and after he set up Potter, the on loan winger failed to make the opportunity count by shooting over the bar. Oxford were now in control of the game and Boro didn’t look like capable of coming back into the game. Again I think GW was found out tactically against the ‘bigger’ teams in this division.

However, whatever he said at half-time seemed to inspire the team as they were again on the front foot at the beginning of the second half. Boro created chances and Cole and Beardsley both had efforts saved by Clarke in the Oxford goal. Although they were creating the chances with Byrom the playmaker, they were not being converted. The same problem of not being clinical enough in front of goal still exists. It’s not a problem that is shared by the leaders of the BSP and they showed how to finish mid way through the second half when Adam Murray latched onto to a Constable pass to seal the game. It was against the run of play, but if you don’t take your chances you get little at this level.

To the team’s credit they kept going and after 90 minutes of trying they eventually scored when Yemi Odubade fired in from close range. A disappointing result, but not a surprising one. We never seem to perform at the big grounds and big teams in this league and until we start to do that we will remain in this league for a while yet. Westley was again too negative and his changes came too late. It wasn’t until Oxford’s second goal that he brought on Odubade. I think he should of made that change about 10-15 minutes earlier when we were putting the home side under a lot of pressure. Next up is the visit of Rushden in a week’s time. They’ve recorded a comfortable win today over Forest Green so it won’t be easy, but I’m confident we can get back to winning ways at Broadhall Way.