01-09-2024, 08:54
Oxford United 3 Harris Goodrham Leigh Preston North End 1 Riis
Oxford United line-up: Cumming; Kioso, Long, Brown, Bennett (Leigh, 45); McEachran (El Mizouni, 77); Phillips (Dembélé, 35), Rodrigues (Vaulks, 77), Brannagan, Goodrham; Harris. Subs not used: Ingham, Ebiowei, Sibley, Dale, Scarlett.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Thórdarson (McCann, 72), Whiteman, Kesler-Hayden (Brady, 58); Greenwood (Holmes, 72), Keane (Okkels, 80); Riis (Osmajić, 72). Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Frøkjær, Ledson.
Attendance: 11,403 (1,467 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr K Stroud.
All started so well, but ending in that losing feeling personally blame ITV4 think it was their main match.
A truly odd ground cannot fathom why they only built three stands and put a car park at the unbuilt end. No dreaming Spires for us, the ground is about 4 miles from the City almost adjacent to the Littlemore mental instution.
One change for us Greenwood for Mads.
Started really well ahead after 3 minutes Riis from close range thoroughly dominated the first 20 minutes could have had other goals didn't take them and then came Freddie's error.
Recycled ball into the box Woodman comes for it changes his mind and is in no mans land as Harri's header floats gently over him into the back of the net. Apart from a very brief bit of pressure at the start of the second period that was it.
The goal gave them confidence and began to attack our oh so flimsy midfield, Whiteman spent most of the time playing England type football backward , sideways abnd Thordason had a frustrating afternoon.
First half level at the break which was probably right, although Mr Stroud was starting to annoy the away support by penalising us for evrything and giving nothing against the home side.
Early second half chance to KKH well saved by the keeper, but then from what looked like a foul to us not given Goodrham ball on the right curled it passed Woodman from about 20 yards.
The fould count started to rise against us another one missed by Mr Stroud led to Lindsay getting his second yellow down to ten and within a minute 3-1 down Leigh heading in at the back post. Forced some pressure in the latter stages but any hope of getting anything from this had long since gone
HECKY THUMPED VIEW
It was a case of one that got away at Oxford United in the mind of Paul Heckingbottom, as his PNE side were beaten 3-1.
North End started right on the front foot and opened the scoring in the third minute, and went on to create a whole host of chances in the first quarter of an hour.
The game turned when Mark Harris drew level for the hosts, though, and they then scored twice more in the second half, before playing the last 20 minutes against ten men after Liam Lindsay saw red.
Hecky said: “Frustrated’s the word. It’s definitely one that’s got away. To come away from home and start the way we did and be as dominant as I thought we were with the ball and without the ball, we scored and deserved to score.
“We couldn’t go and get that second when I thought we were on top. That’s the nature of the game, you have to then be really strong at the other side. I think they only got in our box a couple of times in the first half and the first poor bit of play from us and the ball’s in the back of our net at 1-1.
“It was frustrating at half-time to go in at 1-1. In the second half we wanted to start with the same sort of aggression without the ball which caused them problems, and we did.
“We weren’t as good with the ball in the second half, but then we concede another poor goal. I know Oxford will be really delighted with the finish. It’s a fantastic finish from 25 yards. He probably won’t hit another one like that again this season, but we should be dealing with that. He should have been kept wide and never cut in to have a shot at goal.
“All of a sudden we’re 2-1 down in a game that I feel like we should be winning. When we’re trying to make the changes, we get the sending off just before the changes which is frustrating because I disagree with that decision as well. Then the game had sort of got away from us, but the ten men stuck at it to be fair.”
North End now have a two-week international break, which will give Paul Heckingbottom – only in the job for just over a week – valuable time on the training pitch.
The gaffer’s been very honest about appreciating it’s not going to be an overnight fix, but there’s work which he feels he can get into the players, which will benefit them for the remainder of the season and moving forwards.
Asked how his first week on the job has been, Hecky said: “Overall I’m really pleased. I’m delighted to be here and delighted to be on the sideline.
“I’m pleased with lots of things I’ve seen but I’m also under no illusions that it’s a big job. We’ve got a lot that we want to do and I want everyone to enjoy trying to do it.
“It’s about embracing what we want to do, embracing the hard work and the challenge of it because it’s a tough, tough league, and we won’t be given anything. We’ve got to go on and earn that result.”
Oxford United boss Des Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford:
“I was right behind Tyler Goodrham’s strike – and it was a wonderful finish. Seeing him cutting in on the right-hand side, it’s normally him doing that on the opposite side and curling it in with his right foot.
“That’s the reason we signed Tyler to a long-term contract at this club. He’s thriving at the moment in the Championship and long may that continue.
“It’s difficult when the opposition have a new manager in to plan what they might do, and they set up differently to what we thought they would. It took us a little while to get to grips with that. But we managed to get the message on and made some changes which balanced it up and got us back into the game.
“It’s a great start for us in this league. We were coming into the unknown, so to get six points from the first 12 – if you’d offered that to us before the season started with the amount of unknowns and the changes we’ve had in our squad we’d certainly have taken that.”
Oxford United line-up: Cumming; Kioso, Long, Brown, Bennett (Leigh, 45); McEachran (El Mizouni, 77); Phillips (Dembélé, 35), Rodrigues (Vaulks, 77), Brannagan, Goodrham; Harris. Subs not used: Ingham, Ebiowei, Sibley, Dale, Scarlett.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Thórdarson (McCann, 72), Whiteman, Kesler-Hayden (Brady, 58); Greenwood (Holmes, 72), Keane (Okkels, 80); Riis (Osmajić, 72). Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Frøkjær, Ledson.
Attendance: 11,403 (1,467 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr K Stroud.
All started so well, but ending in that losing feeling personally blame ITV4 think it was their main match.
A truly odd ground cannot fathom why they only built three stands and put a car park at the unbuilt end. No dreaming Spires for us, the ground is about 4 miles from the City almost adjacent to the Littlemore mental instution.
One change for us Greenwood for Mads.
Started really well ahead after 3 minutes Riis from close range thoroughly dominated the first 20 minutes could have had other goals didn't take them and then came Freddie's error.
Recycled ball into the box Woodman comes for it changes his mind and is in no mans land as Harri's header floats gently over him into the back of the net. Apart from a very brief bit of pressure at the start of the second period that was it.
The goal gave them confidence and began to attack our oh so flimsy midfield, Whiteman spent most of the time playing England type football backward , sideways abnd Thordason had a frustrating afternoon.
First half level at the break which was probably right, although Mr Stroud was starting to annoy the away support by penalising us for evrything and giving nothing against the home side.
Early second half chance to KKH well saved by the keeper, but then from what looked like a foul to us not given Goodrham ball on the right curled it passed Woodman from about 20 yards.
The fould count started to rise against us another one missed by Mr Stroud led to Lindsay getting his second yellow down to ten and within a minute 3-1 down Leigh heading in at the back post. Forced some pressure in the latter stages but any hope of getting anything from this had long since gone
HECKY THUMPED VIEW
It was a case of one that got away at Oxford United in the mind of Paul Heckingbottom, as his PNE side were beaten 3-1.
North End started right on the front foot and opened the scoring in the third minute, and went on to create a whole host of chances in the first quarter of an hour.
The game turned when Mark Harris drew level for the hosts, though, and they then scored twice more in the second half, before playing the last 20 minutes against ten men after Liam Lindsay saw red.
Hecky said: “Frustrated’s the word. It’s definitely one that’s got away. To come away from home and start the way we did and be as dominant as I thought we were with the ball and without the ball, we scored and deserved to score.
“We couldn’t go and get that second when I thought we were on top. That’s the nature of the game, you have to then be really strong at the other side. I think they only got in our box a couple of times in the first half and the first poor bit of play from us and the ball’s in the back of our net at 1-1.
“It was frustrating at half-time to go in at 1-1. In the second half we wanted to start with the same sort of aggression without the ball which caused them problems, and we did.
“We weren’t as good with the ball in the second half, but then we concede another poor goal. I know Oxford will be really delighted with the finish. It’s a fantastic finish from 25 yards. He probably won’t hit another one like that again this season, but we should be dealing with that. He should have been kept wide and never cut in to have a shot at goal.
“All of a sudden we’re 2-1 down in a game that I feel like we should be winning. When we’re trying to make the changes, we get the sending off just before the changes which is frustrating because I disagree with that decision as well. Then the game had sort of got away from us, but the ten men stuck at it to be fair.”
North End now have a two-week international break, which will give Paul Heckingbottom – only in the job for just over a week – valuable time on the training pitch.
The gaffer’s been very honest about appreciating it’s not going to be an overnight fix, but there’s work which he feels he can get into the players, which will benefit them for the remainder of the season and moving forwards.
Asked how his first week on the job has been, Hecky said: “Overall I’m really pleased. I’m delighted to be here and delighted to be on the sideline.
“I’m pleased with lots of things I’ve seen but I’m also under no illusions that it’s a big job. We’ve got a lot that we want to do and I want everyone to enjoy trying to do it.
“It’s about embracing what we want to do, embracing the hard work and the challenge of it because it’s a tough, tough league, and we won’t be given anything. We’ve got to go on and earn that result.”
Oxford United boss Des Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford:
“I was right behind Tyler Goodrham’s strike – and it was a wonderful finish. Seeing him cutting in on the right-hand side, it’s normally him doing that on the opposite side and curling it in with his right foot.
“That’s the reason we signed Tyler to a long-term contract at this club. He’s thriving at the moment in the Championship and long may that continue.
“It’s difficult when the opposition have a new manager in to plan what they might do, and they set up differently to what we thought they would. It took us a little while to get to grips with that. But we managed to get the message on and made some changes which balanced it up and got us back into the game.
“It’s a great start for us in this league. We were coming into the unknown, so to get six points from the first 12 – if you’d offered that to us before the season started with the amount of unknowns and the changes we’ve had in our squad we’d certainly have taken that.”
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?