Two for Two

It was a good weekend for both Oxford and Newcastle, with both teams picking up wins. Newcastle were in action against (Blackburn) with an FA Cup match, whereas the Yellows, being a lower league team that was previously knocked out of the cup, were in normal League 2 action against Aldershot Town.

Oxford United vs. Aldershot Town – The Yellows were looking to win this match against an Aldershot side that found themselves in the bottom half of the league table. Oxford got on the score sheet early with renewed striker Jon-Paul Pittman scoring in just the 8^th minute of the game. Both teams had a few shots on goal in the next thirty minutes, but nothing went in until the 38^th minute when Oxford defender Michael Duberry found goal from right in front of the net. With that, I was confident that the Yellows could go into halftime feeling comfortable and then hold on through the second half for a win.

Well they would do more. Just before the close of the first half – in the third minute of extra time to be specific, Oxford midfielder Peter Leven struck one into the left bottom corner. That put Oxford up by an unbelievable 3-0 tally at halftime. The second half was also better than I would have predicted as the Yellows not only held out Aldershot and won the game, but they also got the shutout. With the fantastic 3-0 win over Aldershot, the Yellows move up a bit in the standings to 7^th place – now technically in the promotion playoff zone.

Newcastle United vs. Blackburn Rovers (3^rd Round, FA Cup) – Without leading striker Demba Ba, I had worries for Newcastle’s chances in this game. The Toon had also lost to Blackburn twice already this season, one in a league game and the other being in a Carling Cup tie. My worries seemed to be quite justified as the Toon just didn’t have any type of spark in the first half. From the match tracker I was following, it also seemed like they had either poor shooting or poor chances when they did manage a shot at goal. It wasn’t surprising then that Blackburn would be up 1-0 at halftime, having scored a goal in the 35^th minute.

The second half still didn’t get going much for Newcastle until some substitutions were made. Shola Ameobi and Ryan Taylor were brought on in the 56^th and 60^th minutes respectively. That seemed to get the Toon going for the final third of the game. Not long after in the 70^th minute, Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa, scored to make the game level once again. Ben Arfa had wanted a return to the starting eleven and was given that role for this match. Luckily for himself, he capitalized on the situation.

Newcastle kept pushing forward after Ben Arfa’s leveler. They would have a few shots would go wide of the goal, a few required a saves from Blackburn’s keeper, and one shot would even hit the bar. Time however was running out to score a winner. In the 5^th minute of extra time, right at the death, Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez would score that game winner from right in front of goal and steal the game from under Blackburn’s nose. The 2-1 win over the Rovers would mean progress in the cup for Newcastle. The Magpies will meet either Wrexham or Brighton and Hove Albion in the 4^th round on the weekend of January 28^th.