Cod Almighty | Match Report

by Andrew Lumbard

22 November 2005

Oxford United 2 Grimsby Town 3

The watery sun was setting on the Kasstad and bathed the 315 Grimsby fans in the final embers of a bright, brisk Thames valley day. A happy-go-lucky mixture of travellers and exiles were the only occupants of the north stand, in a similar seating arrangement to last season. A general discussion echoed around the stand regarding the merits of the roadworks on the A34.

Town warmed up at the car park end in customary fashion: prodigious sprints and synchronised passing from the starting eleven; a soft kick about and signing autographs for the subs. According to the local radio, Oxford now start their warm-up with positional moves, throwing the ball to each other rather than kicking. Missed it myself, but thought you'd be interested.

The Grimsby starting XI was Mildenhall; Sir Johnson of Maccademia, Whittle, Ramsden, Croft; Cohen, Bolland, Toner, Parkinson; Jones G, Reddy. They were playing in the unfamiliar black and white away shirts with white shorts and red socks. The substitutes were Glen Downey, Jones R, JPK, Gritton and Hegarty. Oxford introduced their new loanees: F Scott Fitzgerald from Brentford started up front with Sabin, and Adam Griffin from Oldham started in midfield. With all the fire engines and ambulances in place, and an immaculate minute's silence observed by all in memory of George Best, we were ready to start.

First half
Oxford kicked off toward the car park end and threaded a long ball through to Sabin, who was offside. The resulting free kick finished up with a Town throw midway in Oxford's half. The throw came in from Grimsby's left and Oxford already looked very nervy in dealing with the high bouncing ball. Paul Bolland eventually released Reddy down the right wing, and he cut inside the defender. Parkinson charged into the penalty area to receive the cross, which looked a poor one when it was delivered behind him. For an instant the chance seemed to have evaporated as Turley came out, but Parkinson controlled the ball to put it to the keeper's left and between the legs of a hapless defender. Turley leapt up to berate Willmott as Parky turned to celebrate.

Oxford gathered their thoughts, kicked off and within a minute Griffin, who would turn out to be Oxford's best player on the day, found himself in a little space on the edge of the area. Spotting The Big M off his line, he attempted a deft chipped shot which landed on the top of the crossbar with Mildenhall stranded. So it's going to be an entertaining one.

Cohen set off on a 40-yard run, but was unable to find any support. Hackett attacked down into the Grimsby left corner in front of the Mariners fans. His attempted cross ricocheted between himself and Rambo and ended up looping and spinning into Town's six-yard area. Mildenhall had been hypnotised by its spinning arc and remained rooted to the spot. Macca dealt with it, but only succeeded in putting it over the bar. It would've looked close to an own goal to the home fans behind their goal, but not from where we were. Hackett took the corner from the opposite side of the ground and Willmott should have done better with his volley from five yards, which ballooned over the bar.

Reddy had another dart and got around the left-back, Mansell, who managed to recover, and block, whatever it was that Reddy attempted next.

A huge clearance from Mildenhall brought Turley out of his area who, under pressure, gave away a throw on Grimsby's left. This possession eventually led to a Parkinson shot which elicited an "ooh" from the Town fans as Turley fumbled the save.

Minutes 16 and 17 and two fine chances missed by Oxford. Firstly a cross to the near post from in front of the Town fans found Mildenhall flapping under a challenge from Sabin. The ball fell kindly to Eric's feet and he elected to prod the ball goalwards from four yards. Enter Gary Croft, who threw himself to the ground and succeeding in blocking with the 'long barrier' technique.

The ball was not fully cleared and Griffin turned a deep Hackett cross on to the post. Fitzgerald was clear and first to the rebound, but his header was tipped over the bar for another corner and more pressure. I say these chances were missed by Oxford rather than denied by Grimsby. If either had been taken with any confidence they would surely have lifted the home side. They were timid efforts.

Oxford continued to exert pressure and keep possession for the next 10 minutes or so. The chances weren't as plentiful, but it was all in our half. Hackett looked like the playmaker, trying to release the front runners and taking all the corners and free kicks. With around about 26 minutes gone there was a brief respite as the trainers came on to deal with a clash between the Bolland Bonce and the Quinn Quiff.

Normal service was resumed and yet another long clearance from the boot of The Big M created some more nervousness in the Oxford defence. The ball eventually fell to Reddy, who curled a shot from the edge of the area around the foot of Turley's left post. The next Oxford attack was subdued with the effortless artistry of the Grand Macca, who chested the ball to Mildenhall.

The ball was released to Toner, who went on a little gallivant through the middle until he was fouled in the centre circle. The kick was taken quickly and we witnessed some Brazilian trickery from Lumpaldinho, who performed 'the one where you look one way and the ball goes the other'. In this case it was to Cohen, who teased the Oxford back line only to lose the ball, but Oxford again failed to deal adequately with the bouncing ball until a good old-fashioned big boot came to aid.

The entertainment continued. Hargreaves was released into the area and swept his effort across Mildenhall and wide; Reddy and Bolland combined to set Lumpaldinho free down the right; a poor cross wasn't cleared and came back to the Lump, whose effort ended in whirl of studs and legs as the ball seemed to stick between his feet.

With around eight minutes to half time, a neat move from Oxford set Griffin free on goal. The shot was well spanked and goal-bound, but Mildenhall made his parried save look easy. The ball came back in and ended with a Town goal kick.

A cry of "foul throw!" came from the back of the Grimsby stand, and I mentally switched off, thinking that Butcher was there and I wouldn't have to do this report... but hell, no!

Oxford continued to keep it up at our end, where Hackett was tackled by Croft for a corner. Hackett swung the ball in for a head to flick, and force Mildenhall into a falling-backwards-and-palm-it-over-the-bar manoeuvre. The following corner was punched away to another yellow-shirted individual, whose shot ended in the grateful M's arms.

We were near the end of the half, but they wouldn't slow down and I still have incidents to report. There was the Reddy run down the left in which he lost control at the crucial moment and ran into touch for a goal kick. There was the foul on Toner, after which Parky's free kick curled and bounced into the penalty area and no-one touched it. And finally, Esther, during the two additional minutes, there was Turley's scuffed clearance from the right of his area which landed at the feet of Jones, whose effort from that distance - often quoted as "fully" 40 yards - was what is neatly termed rubbish.

Half time
During the half-time interval we were entertained by a one-legged footballer doing keepy-ups and taking penalties. His name was James Catchpole and he is a current player with the England Amputees XI. Their next game is against Brazil. We were informed by the Oxford stalwart Peter Rhodes-Brown that James is looking to start a team in the Oxford area. Goalkeepers must have only one arm.

Second half
Town kicked off and put a long ball through for Turley to gather comfortably. Shortly afterwards Parkinson won an easily-dealt-with corner.

A couple of minutes into the second half Oxford attacked down their left. Robinson swung a cross into the near post where Whittle, while keeping himself between Sabin and the ball, let it bounce. Mildenhall was expecting Whittle to do something with it and was taken unawares when the ball popped up and bounced off his chest and on to the toe of Sabin. Another tentative poke from Eric allowed Macca time to nip in and clear off the line.

Fifty-one minutes gone and Oxford came back again with Fitzgerald feeding the ball to Sabin in the left side of Grimsby's area. With his back to goal and three Grimsby defenders not wanting to put a foot in, he simply waited and passed to Fitzgerald when he got to the edge of the area, who took out his theodolite, measured it up, and curled a neat right-footed strike along the ground, through a very full penalty area, and inside the unsighted Mildenhall's left post. From where we sat, this looked a very good goal.

Town's next attack came down the right side. Macca fed through to a not offside Reddy, who, despite being under no pressure, nearly ran it over the bye-line. Fortunately not, and when he looked up, he passed to Parkinson, who was completely unmarked six yards out from goal. The shot went five yards over.

Undeterred, Oxford continued to create chances. Fortunately for Town they fell to Sabin. A central through ball was flicked on by the diminutive Griffin and put Eric through on goal, with Mildenhall coming to meet him; he dragged the ball wide of the right post. His next effort was to squander a free far-post header with a poorly timed jump and no power.

Fifty-seven minutes gone, and the first "sort it" is heard.

Fifty-eight minutes gone, and Parkinson found himself in possession in Town's left corner area, nearly as far from the Town fans as one could get. Hackett appeared to tackle hard from behind, and the Town players showed their disapproval, by 'having a word'. So it may have been a bad one. The ref deemed it bad enough to show a straight red, and Hackett was off. Later, opinion was mixed on the Radio Oxford phone-in, about 70 per cent thinking it was a bad tackle, including Brian Talbot. Parkinson hobbled off, and was then immediately fouled when he received the ball back in the field of play. Oxford were showing a harder side of their play and a couple more free kicks were given away.

Macca was fouled on Town's touchline just inside the Oxford half. The kick was taken and sent Reddy down the right. He beat his defender and his cross was met with a firm goal-bound header from McDermott. The ball was cleared to the edge of the area but met superbly on the half-volley by Bolland, who fired high into the back of Turley's goal.

The ten men of Oxford carried on unperturbed, defending adequately and attacking on the break. The hobbling Parky was replaced by JPK, and Grimsby's shape was changed to accommodate Kalala's deep midfield positioning.

Fitzgerald continued to create half chances with a shot dribbling wide and a 25-yard effort being safely gathered by Mildenhall. A loose ball was pushed through, but in attempting to control it the ball flew up off Whittle's instep and smacked him on the chin.

The game entered a period of regularity, Grimsby showing confidence with patient possession and Bolland beginning to boss the midfield, Oxford looking for the counter with the now lone Sabin up front. Oxford had a couple of in-range free kicks, the first a repelled cross, the second a Robinson shot which failed to beat the wall. A short period of further Oxford pressure was relieved when Sabin made his final contribution to the game and fouled Ramsden. He was replaced by Roach.
A poor clearance from Mildenhall was returned in the form of a 40-yard effort from Hargreaves which fell between the keeper and Fitz, Big Steve being first to the ball.

Grimsby started to try to hold the ball up in the Oxford half, as Jones laid the ball through to Reddy whose touch let him down yet again. Fitzgerald received a rousing reception as he was replaced by Basham with five minutes left. Reddy went on his final run of the match but his efforts on the left were blocked to give a Town throw of no real consequence.

The final flowing move came from Grimsby in the 89th minute when Reddy released Bolland on the right flank; he cut inside and passed to Cohen in the Oxford area. His first touch let him down and the ball spun along the ground towards Turley, but as the keeper bent down to gather the ball, Cohen's telescopic limb telescoped out and nudged the ball from between Turley's fingertips, between his legs and into the net. Exit the Oxford fans.

As the players made their way back, the fourth official indicated two minutes to go. Roache immediately found himself with the ball two feet outside the right-hand side of the area (source: BBC Radio Oxford), where he was fouled by Whittle. The ref and linesman ignored the lack of appeals for a penalty, and gave one. Basham scored and acknowledged the cheering fans in the car park.

That should have been it but we still had chance for Jones to worry Turley when Mansell gave a short back pass and the final Oxford free kick from the central midfield area, which Mildenhall plucked out of the air with Turley in attendance. There was no time to get it to the other end as the referee blew for full time.

Man of the match
It's going to have to be obvious: Michael Reddy. Tireless running and instigated two goals, but he's got to do more with his control of the ball if he is to achieve more than 0.2 marks above the rest of the team.

Official warning
Mr G Hegley from Bishop's Stortford seemed to have a perfectly adequate game: 30 per cent of the locals were not happy with his 'game changing' red card, and it didn't sound like the penalty decision came within the 'pass with merit' range of the referees' AS-level. So let's imagine that those two decisions occurred the other way round and the penalty came after 58 minutes. Hmmmm... 4.68. I would have liked to hear him recite his Greavsie poem though.