Yay! Points!

I shouldn’t be so cynical, but it’s been a hard stretch here for me lately with the way my clubs have been playing. Following the weekend of November 5^th/6^th, my three teams had only managed one lonely single win between them (not counting this weekend’s action). They collectively played thirteen games! Worse still, there were only two draws in there too! I couldn’t tell you how much I would’ve loved to have had some simple drawn, take one point away type matches these past few weeks. As my title states though, those weeks of dreaming for draws and wins are over. Well, at least for this week… (let’s not get too optimistic).

Let’s go from worst to best matches for this week’s post –

Newcastle United vs. Swansea City – What can I say about this one? The Toon, and especially Demba Ba, were firing off the shots but none of them could find the target. Newcastle outshot Swansea significantly, 22 shots to 3, but only three of the Magpies’ were on goal. With their defensive rock in Coloccini back from injury, Newcastle seemed to easily handle Swansea defensively. However, you can’t win a match if you don’t score goals. And the match wouldn’t be won. Things would end in a very ho-hum 0-0 draw. Luckily, very luckily with how injuries have plagued the team, Newcastle held onto the 7^th position in the standings.

Oxford United vs. Northampton Town – This match had all the action in the second half. Just five minutes into the half, Tom Craddock, who just recently returned from a long injury, put one past Northampton’s goalie to put Oxford up 1-0. It looked as though that one goal might be it for the match, but then things got interesting in the closing minutes. In the 86^th minute, Craddock would be fouled in the box earning a penalty. Although he scored earlier in the match, Craddock wouldn’t even work the goalkeeper with this opportunity, missing with the shot high and to the right. Luckily though fellow Oxford forward Deane Smalley would help out and score just a minute later to finally get that 2-0 score. However, Northampton would get a chance to at least get a goal on the board late into stoppage time. Oxford’s Damien Batt would commit a handball in the box giving Northampton a penalty chance of their own. However it would be a day of missed penalty chances. Although Northampton wouldn’t miss the goal altogether, the Yellows keeper Ryan Clarke would handily keep it out keeping his clean sheet and keeping the score at 3-0.

Oxford United really needed the win to get back into the top third of the table. The win also allowed them to leapfrog some teams in the standings. They went from 12^th to 8^th position. As I mentioned last week, the Yellows have a good chance to continue this upward trend with the next two matches against teams below them in the standings in AFC Wimbledon and now also Torquay. However, the third game out is a bit looming as it is against league leaders Crawley Town. I guess I shouldn’t get too ahead. As anything can happen in a match, it’s best to look at things one match at a time.

Nurnberg vs. Bayer Leverkusen – In front of this match I was really hoping that Nurnberg could pull off a win. Not only did I want them to get out of the relegation zone, but I also wanted them to end on a good note before going into the Bundesliga’s winter break.

Well, Der Club started things off with a bang. Right away in the 8^th minute, forward Daniel Didavi put them ahead of Leverkusen. Jens Hegeler doubled their lead just a short time later in the 22^nd to get a comfortable 2-0 lead. After that, they just needed to hold on. I was of course worried considering the form as of late, but they would indeed blank out Bayer Leverkusen. They would actually put one more goal on the board too as striker Tomas Pekhart scored in the 73^rd minute. Not that there has been many to choose from, but this 3-0 win over Bayern Leverkusen would be Nurnberg’s best win of the season to date.

With the win, and with Kaiserslautern later drawing their match luckily, Nurnberg crept out of the first relegation spot and into safety (for now) taking the 15^th position in the standings. Yes, it’s only one spot but I am so unbelievably relieved to not have them be in the relegation zone during the winter break.

Like I’ve said, I think Der Club really need to pick up some reinforcements in the January transfer period to sufficiently rid themselves of the threat of relegation. However, I think they can also use the time off to get some more training in and to congeal better as a team. With a few key players now back from injury, the players need to get used to each other. Their form has been on the extremes lately. They’ve had either really bad losses or nice wins like this one against Leverkusen. They’ve either been shutout in losses, or, though much fewer, they’re defense got a shutout in a win. Some draws in there would’ve at least given them some points in the table, which probably would’ve distanced them from relegation a bit more. I’m hoping some good practice sessions solidify their form.