It was a bit of an odd schedule of matches this weekend. As one can read in my past weekend match reports, the weekend matches of my three teams are usually a Saturday / Sunday affair. This weekend however Sunday was completely free as Nurnberg played in a normal Saturday slot, but the English teams, Oxford and Newcastle, played their matches on Friday. Of course, these matches were during my work day, but at least I was able to catch the end of Newcastle’s during my lunch on the match tracker.
Newcastle United vs. Swansea City – Time of possession is typically a good indicator of which team is winning or will win a match. The team that has the ball the most typically goes home the victor. Usually. Early on, just in the 5th minute, Papiss Demba Cisse scored for Newcastle to put them up 1-0. They then just sat back and let Swansea have the ball. It never really mattered as it seemed as though Swansea were content to just pass the ball around. Sure they did have a handful of shots on goal, but if they weren’t directly at Newcastle’s keeper Krul, he was still able to make a save without much sweat. Swansea would rack up an impressive 77% of possession for the match, but having the ball doesn’t win the match. You need to score for that to happen and Swansea never did. Cisse would actually pick up a second goal in the 69th minute for Newcastle, and they would coast to the 2-0 victory.
Chelsea won their match on Saturday, so Newcastle still remain even with them on points, but sit below them in 6th position in the league table because of a lesser goal differential.
Oxford United vs. Northampton Town – For the second straight match in a row, Oxford United’s defense was apparently still in the locker room when the match started. Last week against Morecambe, they were scored upon in the 3rd minute. Well, Northampton broke that record. They scored the first goal of the match in the 1st minute. Half the stadium (in Northampton) was probably still taking their seats. Oxford isn’t helping themselves win matches by starting in hole.
The second half started better for the Yellows – they apparently had some coffee during the break and were able to wake up. Just five minutes into the half, in the 50th minute, Cristian Montano scored for Oxford making things level at 1-1. It was just before he scored too that I was wondering why the heck he was in the starting lineup for the match. The front attacking three were Montano, Dean Rendell, and Dean Morgan (who just extended his one-month loan through to the end of the season). Rendell should be starting, the decision to start Morgan is fair enough, but Montano starting came out of nowhere. James Constable and Jon-Paul Pittman were on the bench. I guess Constable and Pittman were returning from injuries, but I was a bit baffled. I guess manager Chris Wilder made the right decision though as Montano did score.
After Montano’s goal, it was for the most part just substitutions and some yellow card bookings for both sides in the rest of the regular 90 minutes. Oxford would get a great chance for the lead in the 59th minute. Midfielder Adam Chapman would be tripped up in the box, giving him a penalty kick for Oxford. What resulted however was a stop from Northampton’s keeper, keeping Chapman’s kick out, and keeping things all level. That’s basically when things started to go downhill for the Yellows. Well, to be more specific it really went downhill in stoppage time. In the first minute of stoppage time, Northampton scored to take the lead and eventually the 2-1 win. To make things even worse, Oxford defender Michael Duberry was given his second yellow card in the 4th stoppage time minute and was sent off.
Following the loss to Northampton, a match that Oxford should have won, they drop back down to 7th position in the league standings. Oxford really need to get their act together, otherwise they will find themselves out of the promotion playoffs. To keep the thought of promotion alive they cannot drop lower than 7th. Currently they are three points behind Cheltenham in 6th and five points behind Southend United in fifth. Much closer are the clubs behind them though. In 8th and just two points behind is Crewe Alexandra. Gillingham in 9th also has Oxford in their sights being just three points down. It’s very safe to say that Oxford’s match on Monday against 2nd place Torquay United will be very pivotal in this winding down of the 2011/2012 campaign.
FC Nurnberg vs. SC Freiburg – Well Der Club started off this “battle of the –burgs” match well. Forward Daniel Didavi opened the scorebook up in the 8th minute, giving Nurnberg the early 1-0 lead. Tomas Pekhart then bookended the half with a second goal for Nurnberg in the second minute of the first half’s stoppage time. Freiburg would come back in the second half though, much to the fault of a crumbling Nurnberg. Defender Per Nilsson committed a yellow card foul in the box in the 52nd minute, giving Freiburg a penalty which they converted. Nurnberg was still up 2-1 but I had that feeling, that lump in my throat, that the penalty would signal a turning point. They would end up only getting one shot on goal for the entire half, but most of the team’s efforts were needed in defense to keep Freiburg out. Well, those efforts were not good enough, as Frieburg would level in the 79th. Luckily, they would end their scoring there and keeping it at a come from behind 2-2 draw for them.
It may have ended a 2-2 draw, but as a Nurnberg fan it almost felt like a loss. I mean they were ahead 2-0 at halftime! To keep it on the positive side though, the draw finally broke the four game losing streak they had going into this match. Fortunately, they also didn’t lose any ground in the league table. Der Club still sit in 12th place, three points up from the 16th place relegation playoff spot.
No comments:
Post a Comment