Oxford 3 Swansea 0

Oxford 3 Swansea City 0

Forced into a change from the side that started on Friday against Boston, Brian Flynn, as expected gave Andy Robinson his first start in a Swans shirt on the left with Lenny Johnrose settling into the centre of midfield vacancy left by the injury to Roberto Martinez. Flynn didn’t stop there though, handing a Swans debut to new signing Izzy Iriekpen and moving Stuart Jones to right back at the expense of Lee Jenkins.

Murphy

Jones Iriekpen O’Leary Hylton

Maylett Britton Johnrose Robinson

Trundle Nugent

In what was expected to be the toughest match of the season to date, Swansea started brightly and controlled most of the first half. Lenny Johnrose was proving a more than capable deputy for Martinez with some strong, but fair tackles in midfield and Swansea looked threatening without ever really coming close to breaking the deadlock. A couple of long range shots from Trundle and one from O’Leary never found their intended target with Andy Robinson having the only on target effort that I can remember in the first half which was easily saved by the Oxford keeper.

But in fairness Oxford were doing little more and most of the first half was played in the half that they were defending although a couple of late clearances were required when Steve Basham was ready to pull the trigger. A half-time scoreline of 0-0 was about right although Swansea were dealt another blow in the half when Lenny Johnrose limped off to be replaced by Jonathan Coates who took his place on the left, Andy Robinson moving into the middle.

The second half was a much brighter game with chances at both ends but again the bulk of it appearing to belong to Swansea. Lee Trundle looked dangerous as ever and full of tricks but today just seemed to take the wrong option although at times he was lacking support. Maylett was providing most of the running for Swansea and is developing into one of the most exciting players we have had at the Vetch for several years. Britton was definitely on one of his quieter days today although the occasional glimpse of brilliance showed that he was trying to get into the game. Oxford looked a solid defensive unit, as their season’s record to date showed, and the ever (un)popular Matthew Bound looked the solid player he was when we won the championship in 2000.

Julian Alsop was also getting his fair share of grief and responded with a hand gesture at the Swansea fans clearly seen by the officials which should ensure that any friends he had in the Swansea support were ex-friends at this moment. The game had 0-0 written all over it and Swansea fans were settling for this when the last frantic five minutes hit them like a whirlwind. First, Kristian O’Leary was adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty area and the referee duly gave the penalty. I admit to sitting the other end of the stand to the incident but whilst I will confess it looked a foul I will be interested to see TV replays of the incident as there looked a fair chance that it was outside the area. Not that it matters now as Oxford converted the penalty to take an undeserved (in my opinion) lead.

At 1-0 even with five minutes left you felt that we had a chance but for some comical moments. First Swansea tried to mount an attack to get back in the game and Leon Britton tried to turn the ball into the centre where it hit the referee allowing Oxford to mount a counter attack. If that wasn’t bad enough they eventually scored from the attack but it was, without a doubt a goal that Swansea assisted with hugely. A cross from the right should have been dealt with by Kristian O’Leary and Brian Murphy but neither seemed to want it and Alsop stuck his leg out to guide it through Murphy’s legs and into the goal. Hard to say who was at fault but I would go for both as any form of communication between them would have seen the ball being cleared.

The joke went from bad to worse though as Oxford added another one. Again a cross from the right to the edge of the area saw Stuart Jones look to head the ball back to Murphy. Unfortunately for the youngster, Murphy was too on the edge of the area and the header looped over him and was converted by Rawle, 17 seconds into his Oxford debut. Again, no communication between the keeper and his defenders.

Make no mistake about it, 3-0 flattered Oxford no matter what you may read elsewhere. This wasn’t the fluent team that we have seen so far this season from our point of view but it was a team that had the better of the possession and took the game to Oxford. Most other teams in this division would have struggled to keep a clean sheet against us today. However, we made mistakes when there was no need and the defence were duly punished. It would be easy to point the finger at Murphy but he was the common factor in the 2nd and 3rd goals. O’Leary and Jones both made mistakes of their own and whether that was down to lack of communication or just a belief from both of them that they believed Murphy would do something else is hard to say. I think we need the experience of Roger at the back now to try and steady the defence as errors like this will cost us more often than they don’t.

Second negative for me was the lightness of midfield when Johnrose went off. Coates on the left didn’t work and again we saw the wanting to come in or lay the ball off from him that we weren’t seeing before that from Robinson. For those that were there contrast Coates to Maylett and see which one is more likely to create chances for us. Connolly is a must if we are to survive the next few weeks without Johnrose and Martinez.

Let’s try not to get too downhearted about this result as there were good things to note from here. We have nine points from twelve and still playing well, 3-0 sounds a big reverse but the scoreline, as I have said before, flatters Oxford. The debut of Izzy was a plus, he looked as if he has the ability to develop into a class defender, Robinson shone again and my man of the match without a doubt today was Maylett who looked dangerous ever time he had the ball.

Mansfield on Saturday is one that we can win but I think that Mr Flynn will have a few things to think about tonight. It’s not a case of back to the drawing board to start again, more a case of a shuffle of what we already have on there.

Great support again today from the fans – endless noise throughout in a crowd of 6,000+

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