One of the best performances I've seen from Stanley, especially under the circumstances of injuries/red card absences and an extremely strong wind blowing right through the end where Oxford, if only they weren't such a tinpot outfit
, should have a stand.
First half Stanley let Oxford play with the wind, and they probably had, slightly, the better of the half. But there goal was a fluke cross (never a 'shot') that simply bounced through defenders and attacker and caught Etheridge flat footed. Other than that, Etheridge was very impressive and commanded his entire box, and sometimes beyond it, well. Second half started perfectly with a great cross from McConville and a Billy Whiz header from, I'd guess, 3.5 yards out at the far post. After that Stanley were superb, playing some delightful close, one-touch inter-passing that made Oxford look flat footed. Their fans started to get at them and they started making more mistakes.
The two 'new' boys, Messrs Boco and Brown, looked a little off the pace at times, not surprisingly, but played their part and can surely only improve with more game time.
Invidious to single out one player as MotM as there were so many to choose from. The back four really controlled a lively and strong forward line, Halliday and Pearson both immense in stifling their attacks down the wing. Messrs Davies and Wright also handled their big front man with assurance. Davies took his first yellow card for the team, after Brown tripped over the ball and let Oxford in, but his second was rash on his part. However, it was also great to see how well the defence handled the enforced changes before and during the game, with Matty Pearson moving into the middle, and Wakefield slotting in perfectly. Even McConville reverted to an emergency left back; by the way, he had a cracking game and showed some maturity throughout. Nice to see Pierro and Sean Mac switching wings and both getting at their defence, Pierro yet again usually having two opponents closing him down whenever he got the ball. As ever, Billy Kee was unbelievably good up against a guy twice his size, battling for 90 minutes and fully deserving a goal. Really liked the look of young Shaw who nearly announced his arrival with what would have been a cracking goal.
But, as Professor Coleman suggested, yet again Captain Conneely was simply huge today. What a team, what performance. What a great result.