Barrow AFC v Oxford United - Blue Square Premier

Barrow AFC Starting Eleven

Deasy
Pearson, Jones, McNulty, Elderton
Henney, Bond, Boyd, Logan
Walker, Hunt

Substitutes: Taylor, Bayliss, Brown, Sheridan, Tait.

Substitutes Used: Brown on for Logan in the 69th minute. Tait replaced Hunt in the 84th minute.

Oxford United Starting Eleven

Hinchliffe
Clarke, Quinn, Foster, Carruthers
Davies, Murray, Burnell, Haldane
Odubade, Constable

Substitutes: Cole, Willmott, Reid, Fisher, Husbands.

Substitutes Used: Willmott on for Davies at half time. Reid and Husbands on for Haldane and Odubade in the 77th minute.

There's a great history between these two teams; the first game Oxford United ever played in the Football League was against Barrow in fact but never before had the two clubs met in the non-league. As the game began it was Barrow that started out the stronger side and during the first half the team had a number of clear cut chances to take the lead. Two of the teams best chances fell to Andy Bond; his first chance was a header which should have seen the back of the net, and the second an absolute stormer of a shot that rebounded off of the crossbar and out to safety for Oxford United. Barrow AFC was by far the better of the two clubs and things went from bad to worse for Oxford in the 39th minute when young defender James Clarke saw red and was forced to leave the field of play. The young Oxford lad did not look happy; he stormed off and kicked a wall as he entered the tunnel and entered the teams changing room. It was a professional foul; a two footed uncontrolled challenge and one where both his legs had left the floor; a stone wall sending off. With Barrow already the better team things did not look good for Oxford and from here on in it looked like it was going to be an even more one sided match between these two clubs.

At half-time it was clear that Darren Patterson gave the Oxford United team a stern talking to; interviewed at the start of the second half he had little of a voice left and I imagine the Oxford team received a right royal rollicking for the half time team-talk and deservedly so. 10-men kicked off for Oxford in the second half and change was made as Chris Willmott took to the field. Oxford manager Patterson implemented a 4-4-1 tactic and so the second half began.

Despite the player disadvantage it was Oxford United that started out the second half the better side; Lewis Haldane made a number of cracking runs down the left and always looked to be incredibly dangerous coming forward. Yemi Odubade was similarly slick down the right and the two wing-men showed themselves to be exceptional with a number of key runs down the flanks. Despite the hard work, grit, and pure determination of the two wide players however a breakthrough never came for Oxford United. The two players ran themselves into the ground with their runs; something which would later lead to them both being replaced. It wasn't to be for Oxford on this occasion and despite absolute domination for the first 15/20 minutes of the second half; no goals came and it was then minnows Barrow AFC opportunity to show this 10-man Oxford side exactly what they were made of.

In a Barrow move to break the deadlock; change was made and Paul Brown took to the field for the team. Brown looked a little weak when he came on to replace impressive new Barrow AFC signing Carlos Logan; Logan had looked good on the ball, opportunities had been limited for the lad however and Brown was therefore chucked on to mix things up and make a little more of the player advantage. When Paul Brown dived in the 71st minute Barrow AFC were gifted a free-kick in a promising place just outside of the box and given an excellent opportunity to take the lead against their supposedly superior opponents. It wasn't a foul, Yemi Odubade saw yellow for the tackle however and just to add insult to injury; Barrow's Mark Boyd fired the ball home to give Barrow the lead. Hinchliffe was off his line and out of position, Boyd made sure he paid for his mistakes and smashed it home off the post. Brown had only been on the field two minutes when the tackle was made; an intelligent move on his behalf to go to ground and one that paid off in spectacular fashion. Five minutes later and yet another goal came for Barrow, once again from the work of a dive. Hinchliffe came out of his goal to get the ball, slid in on his side, and Matt Henney made sure referee P Quinn gave the penalty as he dived over his body and convincingly made it look as though contact had been made. Steve McNulty was the man to take the penalty, he coolly smashed it home between the arms of a flailing Hinchliffe. Huinchliffe came close to saving it, he didn't though and Barrow took a 2-0 lead. Two goals within the space of five minutes and Barrow AFC was a team brimming with confidence and desperate to drive forward and score some more goals for fun.

Just in case Oxford United wasn't completely out of the game at 2-0 down; Paul Brown again showed why he was on the field in the 82nd minute when he chipped the ball over the on-rushing Hinchliffe to make it three and seal the win for Barrow AFC. The funniest thing about this game was that Barrow's best half had been the first and yet they didn't manage to score a single goal; in the second when it was more of an even game Barrow scored three however and made sure that the other teams in the Blue Square Premier League (formerly known as the Conference) knew that they're back and that Barrow mean business. 3-0 flattered Barrow really, the team definitely deserved the win however and full credit to the team for battling away for the full 90 minutes and making sure that victory was achieved.

For me it was Lewis Haldane who had the best game for Oxford; of the Barrow players they all played well however and every single one of the thirteen Barrow boys that took part in the game gave it their all. It was a great win for Barrow and a fantastic way for them to start their season and mark their return to the top tier of non-league football. Oxford United is the Manchester United/Chelsea of the Blue Square Premier; the team that everyone wishes to beat and the one side that everyone will up their game against. Oxford United is not the big club it once was, it's still quite a big fish in a small pond however and in the 2008/09 season it will once more be Oxford United that is the team to beat. Oxford United never does too well against part-time teams, Barrow AFC has came, saw and conquered Oxford United and it will be interesting to see if Oxford United will be able to recover from this defeat in time for Tuesday's game against Weymouth. Tuesday sees Barrow travel to Altrincham and it could well be another win for the club which will make sure Barrow remains on or around the top of the league.

Final Score: Barrow AFC 3 - 0 Oxford United

Date: 08/08/08
Home Team: Barrow AFC
Venue: Holker Street
Referee: P Quinn
Booked: Odubade, Hinchliffe, Constable.
Sent Off: Clarke (39)
Goals: Boyd 71, McNulty 76 pen, Brown 82.
Attendance: 2790
Winning Team: Barrow AFC (3-0)