The Yellows Get to Play

After not playing a match since January 29^th, Oxford United returned to action today against Dagenham & Redbridge. Pre-match, D&R (I have to abbreviate that long of a club name) sat 22^nd in the league tables, third from the bottom and the last spot before the relegation zone. Oxford were definitely looking to win this one.

The match also marked the debuts of many new faces for the Yellows. Scott Rendell and Oli Johnson were in the starting eleven, but Mehdi Kerouche and Lee Holmes were later substitutions.

D&R had also not played for a few weeks because of England’s cold weather, so the match started out slow to say the least. As this was during the work day for me, I only took a peek at the match tracker periodically. Normally when I do this with most matches, a shot will be mentioned after a handful of minutes. Something usually happens. With both teams trying to score, you don’t go too long without seeing a shot. Well, you could tell both Oxford and D&R were rusty for this one. The first half was more than halfway through before either team managed to take a shot. Even after then though, things weren’t too exciting in the half. The first half ended with only three shots total combined from both teams.

The second half was better, not fantastic, but better with a combined nine shots taken. Luckily for some excitement in the match, three of those found the back of the net. New Oxford signing got things started in the 51^st minute with a headed shot. He’ll be happy to commemorate his first start for Oxford with a nice goal like that. D&R alas made things even again though in the 72^nd minute with a header of their own. Their leveler had me quite concerned that Oxford would draw for the third match in a row and again be a draw against lesser competition. Happily for worries were unwarranted, as Oxford’s “ol’ reliable” striker James Constable put them ahead 2-1 with a goal in the 79^th. The Yellows would hold off D&R from scoring for the rest of the match and take the 2-1 win.

Oxford United squeeze into 7^th place and into the lowest promotion playoff spot with the win. They are three points above the eighth placed team, Rotherham United, but are a far eight points away from the sixth place team, Shrewsbury Town. Basically that means Oxford have to be careful. It will be hard to move up in the standings, but it will be very easy to move down.