Oxford United v Weymouth - Blue Square Premier

Oxford United Starting Eleven

Cole
Day, Quinn, Foster, Carruthers
Odubade, Murray, Burnell, Husbands
Haldane, Constable

Substitutes: Hinchliffe, Hutchinson, Reid, Deering, Fisher.

Substitutes Used: First on for Oxford was Reid for Husbands in the 64th minute. The final two changes were made in the 75th minute of the match when Odubade was replaced with Deering and Fisher came on for Constable.

Weymouth Starting Eleven

Bernard
Mawer, Doe, Santos Gaia, Sandwith
Ryan Williams, Reed, Robinson, Malcolm
Beavon, McPhee

Substitutes: Knowles, Bygrave, Webb, Coutts, Joseph-Dubois.

Substitutes Used: Joseph-Dubois on for Malcolm in the 66th minute, and Coutts brought on in place of Ryan Williams in the 82nd.

156 loyal and dedicated away fans made the trip from Weymouth to Oxford for this Tuesday night Blue Square Premier clash. In the 17th minute it was shown to be well worth their while as Didcot born Stuart Beavon slammed home a goal for the away side. Beavon was linked with an Oxford United move not too many seasons ago, he's been at Weymouth since 2006 now though and always it seems that Oxford's failure to sign the players they should always eventually comes back to haunt them. So many times I've seen former Oxford players/former transfer targets score against Oxford and every time it breaks my heart to see.

So in the 17th minute it was 1-0 to the Weymouth and Oxford were now well on track to lose their second game of the season. It wasn't really that simple though; before Weymouth even scored Oxford had a number of opportunities to break the deadlock; Yemi Odubade came close as too did Lewis Haldane. Nothing quite worked out for Oxford however and they just couldn't get the ball to hit the back of the Weymouth net. Oxford had amply opportunities to score in both halves of the match; none of the chances were taken however and ultimately a 1-0 home defeat was achieved at the end of the night.

A couple of changes were made coming into this game, the suspension of James Clarke forced for Matt Day to be included in the starting eleven (he hadn't even made the bench in the previous game), and a number of goalkeeping blunders for Ben Hinchliffe in the game against Barrow meant that Jake Cole was brought into the team for this game and that Hinchliffe was relegated to the bench. Tactics changed for Oxford, a 3-0 defeat in the first game meant that something severely needed to be done and Darren Patterson knew this. The changes definitely had a positive effect upon the Oxford game but still it was not enough to avoid defeat.

Other than the goal that Weymouth scored; never did Weymouth ever cause much of a threat to the Oxford back four. It was a very one-sided game but the Weymouth defence held firm and prevented Oxford United from scoring any goals. Oxford deserved at least a point from this game but Weymouth were very reluctant to relinquish their lead and let any points slip. All points count and travelling away to Oxford is meant to be one of the hardest games in any Blue Square Premier sides season so Weymouth's 3 points were being rightfully coveted here. Weymouth wanted to win the match, they're not a particularly strong side, but they were definitely fighting to keep their lead and win the game.

Oxford battled hard in this game but ultimately there was no way through for them; almost every player in the Oxford team had a crack at goal during this game but none of them managed to score. Oxford United had 19 shots in the game (12 of which were off target) whilst Weymouth only managed 8. Oxford also had 9 corners whereas Weymouth just had the one, Oxford failed to convert their superiority into goals however and the one early goal for Weymouth was all that was managed in this match. Oxford United remain without a point, Weymouth on the other hand now have 6 to their credit and sit second in the league just behind Barrow AFC (whom Oxford United lost their first fixture of the season against). It has been a tough few days for Oxford; in the space of five days two games have been lost and now Oxford must face Eastbourne Borough at home on Saturday buoyant and fresh from their win away at Stevenage. The season will not be easy for Oxford and already promotion now looks to be a distant dream.

Final Score: Oxford United 0 - 1 Weymouth

Date: 12/08/08
Home Team: Oxford United
Venue: Kassam Stadium
Referee: S Martin
Booked: Reed, Mawer, Day.
Goals: Beavon 17.
Attendance: 4547
Winning Team: Weymouth (1-0)