While I do have a slight soft spot for Oxford United because of it being where I attend university, all pleasantries went out of the window as soon as they entered the pitch. I was 100% behind JJ’s (or Skivver’s in this case) men to sail us safely through to the next round.
I know a lot of people are not fans of this particular tournament, but I feel as though now a trip to Wembley is on the cards we should put the discrepancies aside and get behind the boys, if not for the fact we want them to progress, but simply due to the cash it can potentially bring in.
I must say it made me very happy to see some regular starters from last season that have fallen slightly down the pecking order this season. Much like coming home from Uni and meeting all of my home friends for a drink in Spoons, it was great to see the likes of Paul, Nik, and even though he hasn't been here for long it feels like a LIFETIME since I last saw him play, James Ball. Paul Kalambayi was back to his usual “kick anything that moves”' strategy and it was wonderful to see him grace Plough Lane with his presence again for a full 90 minutes. While he may not have the technical ability of the centre backs that the Oxford forwards are used to playing against, he makes up for that in hardwork and physicality, and it took a bit of getting used to for the Oxford men. When Nik Tsanev made that double save in the first half, I had to remind myself that Allison Becker had not got lost on M6 and ended up playing for us in the BSM trophy, but it was in fact our very own Nik!! He looked confident and assured, and it made me very happy to see him on such good form last night. Then James Ball had a fabulously taken shot from outside the area, and I think even the Oxford keeper was surprised it didn't go in.
Another one who was excellent yesterday was James Tilley. I saw flashes of the Colchester away and Sutton away versions of the Tillmeister and he was back to his early season form. He is so tricky to defend against and while Omar and Ali are off doing their thing in the Asia cup, Tilley is one of our main sources of goal threat. He has to start for the next few games. Harry Pell was back to his usual football with a side of theatre yesterday. He strategically flung himself around the pitch, eventually being rewarded with getting the Oxford keeper sent off. The Oxford players all stood around waiting for the reserve keeper to get his chance but then the reality dawned on them: they had made all of their substitutions! Unfortunately for Oxford, the team they had ended up with at this moment was slightly vertically challenged, with none of the team being tall enough to be a fully functioning keeper for the last ten minutes. As they were all staring at each other bordering on doing a game of rock paper scissors to decide who was going in goal, Oxford’s number 14 ‘Oisin Smyth’, a northern Irish midfielder took one for the team and swapped his usual shirt for bright green and went between the sticks. We had such an opportunity to go 3-0 up here. Although the free kick was about 5 yards further out than we would have hoped for, we had a midfielder in goal, it was obvious we needed to have a shot. As if in slow motion Jake Reeves raised his arms above his head and... passed it to Tilley and then Oxford got the ball. It was the comedic moment of the game, and bless him I think I genuinely saw Smyth take a sigh of relief. Luckily for him, we didn't really test him as we saw out the last 10 minutes, but the sending off was the confirmation that we were now in the quarter finals!
It was also interesting to see the new haircuts and colours that some players were fashioning last night. Josh Davison made me like him even more with his campaign to cut his hair for charity and Morgan Williams’ new hair reflecting brighter than the flood lights. While it was absolutely freezing, it was a fun and productive evening at Plough Lane and I thought we played extremely well. We have now beaten a lot of top League 1 sides, and that can only be positive for both the players' confidence, and the simple economic benefits that come with cup wins. Roll on Wrexham on Saturday. COYD!!
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