Abingdon Utd Errea Match Reaction

Great bouncebackability at Abingdon last night.

Credit to the lads they responded well to the call for an improved display after Saturdays performance against Taunton. To be fair that's no more than i would have expected from a squad with so many strong characters. Above all else what we were looking for from the game was a performance, that we won it was a bonus. There were lots of plusses and I thought we started and finished the game the stronger of the two sides.

We gave a rest to Adam Durrant, Andy Marriott, Ryan Williams and Ray Spence and others coming in took their chances well and have given me "good selection problems" ahead of Saturday's F A Cup game at Bishops Cleeve. Young Lee Farrow came in for the injured Carl Wilkins between the posts and did a sterling job, whilst in front of him Gavin Lane slotted in nicely on the right of Aves and Crakes and had a very solid debut game.

New signing Matty Glynn showed some sublime touches before going off with an injury. His range, touch and vision was there for all to see. Once he is 100% match fit im sure we are going to see some exciting games from him. Obviously it was good to get Justin Merritt back into our midfield and without doubt he always gets the best out of Mark Jones when alongside him.

Danny Keen has been very patient waiting for a chance to impress and as well as scoring he put in a real shift up top last night. Him and Anthony Alleyne are two of the most honest and hard working strikers around and that showed last night when they chased down every ball. I was pleased for teenager Aaron Williams who made a smashing debut on the right side of our midfield. He has a good first touch, moves well and quickly over the ground and more importantly has the ability to ride a tackle, go by people and open the game up. It would have been nice to have given another of the impressive Nomads team, John Hawkins a run towards the end as well but the game was too tight to call until Stretch scored the second goal and by that time the substitutions had all been made.

It was good to see Jermaine Ferreira in such good form for Abingdon once again. He looked lively and bright and we had to work hard to keep him as quiet as we did. I coached Jermaine whilst he was a schoolboy and he made his Southern League debut for me at Witney when he was just 15 years of age. I actually had to go and ask his headmaster's permission to play him!!. I have always kept an eye on his development ever since.

I will bring you up to speed with all the injuries and squad news for Saturday on Friday morning.

Taunton match reaction

Great news from Saturday is that striker Chris Harper can rejoin full training within the next three weeks and a return to action date has been pencilled in sometime during November. His return will be like a new signing for the club.

I'm sure that all of our supporters will have been very disappointed with the performance and result on Saturday but I am not going to do or say anything that takes away the credit from Taunton, who were far superior to us on the day in all departments.

They are a powerful, well balanced unit, who break with pace and purpose, they have a good physical presence and work extremely hard for each other on and off the ball. We unfortunately, had one of those days where everyone was pretty much off their game. Having said that Carl Wilkins did well to keep us in the game during the first half. We couldn't retain any decent possession, defended poorly, both as a unit and collectively as a team and produced a display that was laden with errors and bad decision making.

On the positive side Ray Spence again got himself into a number of good positions, which on another day would probably have produced a goal or two for him or others. For him to have that degree of success against the leagues meanest defence, i believe bodes well for the future.

All games have turning points and when Ray got in down the right just after half time we should have capitalised but his first touch took him wide and within a few minutes we were 2-1 down. Again, with the game poised at 3-1 we have not got the penalty that all but the referee saw, as Anthony Alleyne was clearly held back in the box. That said we got two penalties at Andover a fortnight ago, so these things even out. I thought we got the worst of the decisions on Saturday but again that will sort itself out during the season.

We have made a solid start at this level, probably as good if not better than we could have expected, unfortunately peoples expectations have probably been falsely raised and Saturdays result will act as the catalyst for us all to get back to basics and do what we are best at.
As is the norm after a defeat one or two questions will always be raised about team selection, tactics and use of subs etc.

As a manager you know and accept that, that goes with the territory. Team selections will always be subjective so it would be hard for us all to ever agree about that!. If the team is playing well or winning no manager will change things greatly and players who have done well will expect to keep their place. Although i will never discuss the form of individual players via this media, i am happy to clear up one or two things from Saturday.

Firstly, Justin Merritt, Luke Brandon and Lee Rendell were all unavailable, whilst Anthony Alleyne was not 100% and we have been nursing him back slowly. In his absence Alex Stewart has scored twice and led the line very well. We also had one or two players playing with knocks and i had to keep one eye on them before making any changes.

Tomorrow night we travel to Abingdon United once again, this time in the Errea Cup and doubtless both sides will take the opportunity to give a game to those players who have not had much action of late.

Pre-Taunton Match

Tomorrow we face a very stern test of our credentials when unbeaten Taunton visit us. Taunton had a fine F A Cup replay victory over Swindon Supermarine on Tuesday, so will arrive in Oxford full of confidence. Apart from Justin Merritt who is still away in Japan on business, we will be at full strength.

Defender Mark Avery and striker Anthony Alleyne are both fit and new signing Matty Glynn is added to the squad.

Andover Match Reaction

For the first 15-20 minutes on Saturday Andover were yards sharper than us, taking an early lead and playing and passing with great pace, skill and purpose. We then changed our system to 4-4-2 to match up, as we thought they were getting far too much "easy" ball into their front two. From there onwards i felt we pretty much created the better opportunities and in the second half took control and were fairly comfortable winners.

Ray Spence, despite scoring from the spot and missing one, was prominent throughout and created a number of good scoring opportunities for himself. He was far busier than he was at Abingdon midweek but couldn't really get his final shot away cleanly.

Andover found it difficult to handle Alex Stewart in the air and everyone was pleased for him that he notched again, finishing off a fine four man move. As a four we were solid at the back and Greg Williams did a really good job for us in centre midfield, breaking things up and giving us good continuity in our passing.

Andover will point to the fact that they didn't have Glen Damen and Ashley Vine and that's fair comment as they are both good players and more importantly big players in terms of height. In return though we were without key players Justin Merritt, Anthony Alleyne and Mark Avery.

A word of praise for Omar Takriti, who came in for his first game of the season after injury and gave an accomplished performance alongside Crakes, Mazz and Adam.

This coming Saturday we face a difficult home F A Cup tie against Chertsey Town. You can forget all about league positions etc where the F A Cup is concerned, its all about who wants it and performs on the day. There is no doubt that our visitors will see this as a great opportunity and we, with home advantage, must start well and impose ourselves.

When I was Manager of Witney we had a poor start to one season and had to go to Yeovil, who at the time were top of the Conference. They scored in almost the first minute and we obviously feared the worst but battled back to equalise and only lost 2-1 in the replay. We also lost 2-1 at Yeovil a season or two later and lost narrowly by the same score to Stevenage in the F A Trophy when they were really flying under Paul Fairclough. I can also recall being here at City and us drawing 2-2 at Farnborough who were Conference then, so there are plenty of lessons to be learnt out there and rest assured i will be impressing these upon my players during the build up to the game.

Finally Jon Steedman has joined Carterton on a loan arrangement and Jason Milletti has joined Godalming Town. Jason is a really top lad but the travelling from his Surrey home was more difficult than we both imagined.
Everyone at the club wishes him well as his attitude was exemplary, including attending games when he wasn't in the team or subs.

I will update this page on Thursday or Friday ahead of Saturdays game.

Abingdon United Match reaction

I thought that Tuesday nights replay with Abingdon was certainly a better game than that played out on the Saturday.
Obviously we were pleased to win but in all fairness the game could have gone either way.

Anybody who paid to get in, got their monies worth from a game played at a high tempo, in a competitive spirit and flowing from end to end.

Abingdon were again the better side in the first half and it was pretty much against the run of play that we went in front, with Ray Spence scoring a goal that few at this level are capable of.
Abingdon got far too many "easy" crosses into our box throughout the game and we failed to pick up at the back stick several times before they drew level. After the break I felt we raised our game and seized the initiative back.
Extra time brought the sort of action you get when you combine tired legs and minds and led to the game really opening up.

Ray produced a real rabbit out of the hat for us as the game looked destined for penalties and yet still Abingdon showed great battling qualities to pull the tie back to 4-3 before time ran out. You can make a good argument as to who deserved to win over the two games but certainly last night football was the winner.

I have to be pleased with the character my team showed in scoring late on, on Saturday, then overcoming Abingdon's equaliser right on half time (which is always a killer) on Tuesday and in how they managed to come back to win the game, after leading on two occasions and being pegged back, as the initiative is nearly always with the team who draw level.

There are one or two injury problems ahead of the weekend, with Anthony Alleyne, who missed Tuesdays game with a clipped heel and Mark Avery who broke down in the warm up on Tuesday night. Hopefully both will be fit for Saturday, along with Omar Takriti who had another run out for the Nomads in their terrific win. Luke Brandon soldiered on for as long as he could with an ankle injury before we had to get him off to get it iced.

This Saturday we travel to Andover, a team that I have come up against in the old Southern League and more recently the Wessex League. Be good to see their boss Ady Burford and his staff once again and Ashley Vine, who played for me at Newbury.

The Lions will have their suspended players back for this weekend so it will be a very tough game for us that's for sure.

Following Abingdon Utd game

Let there be no doubt about it Abingdon United were by far the better side on Saturday and fully deserved to win the game.
Whether our late goal was a mere reprieve or another opportunity remains to be seen. One thing is for certain I am sure we that we will not play as badly again.
It was a strange game with very little passion for a local derby, that could be because we are all now playing at the same level.
Doubtless now that ive said that Tuesday will be a real blood and thunder encounter.
I took offence at one or two comments made towards me at the end of the game and that coupled with my frustration at our poor performance served to make me act well out of character. There were one or two things in the game that I wasn't happy about but that's no excuse for being unprofessional (something I have always prided myself on) so I apologise to anyone who felt offended, be they in our own or the Abingdon United camp. In my defence what I would say, is the moment you lose the passion then that's the moment to pack it all in!!
My players know they underperfromed and held their hands up to that afterwards. They are a good honest bunch and I know they will want to play better tomorrow night.
I have been suitably chastised for changing the team from that, that has opened the season so strongly but in all fairness all the lads I brought in were no worse on the day than those who have played in every game.
Football is a squad game these days and you have to keep your players active. They cant all go out on loan so occasionally you need to freshen things up and shuffle the pack. There will always be contention over team selections the same as there will be over substitutions.
I could point to the fact that we went to three up front and that Danny Keen came on to equalise was a stroke of genius!! but we all know that in reality
its about luck now and again. The last thing any manager wants is for his
squad to diminish or to have players walk away, getting the balance right is a tough line and unless you have been a manager you would not understand how difficult a call it can be.

Lyner