Did anyone go along today?
I wondered how the trialist Jack Boyle got on. How Obaze did and how the youngsters like George Smith, who seemingly scored a cracker, got on.
A mere 56 people attended at the final head count (there were a couple of quiet periods in the match!!!).
Boyle didn't eally impose himself on the match; he swapped flanks a couple of times with Soares, one darting run down the inside-right channel culminated in his being easily muscled off the ball. Didn't particularly show a lot, to be honest.
Obaze gave a rather typical performance; very strong aerially, but he gets tangled up on the ground and on a couple of occasions this could have led to us conceding.
Weighing into the Evans/Morris debate, I thought
Evans managed to make five or six terrific saves (including two whilst floor-bound on the goal-line in the lead-up to the Oxford goal) yet still didn't inspire any confidence but constantly fumbling innocuous shots or crosses, so I don't think he really put any pressure on Morris for what used to be the number one jersey.
George
Smith's goal was top-drawer, and I thought generally he looked lively in his usual role just behind the front-man, who on this occasion was Kyle
Asante. Asante himself was quite quiet, although he was flagged offside a couple of times in close calls. He had one effort in the second half where he tried to catch the 'keeper out by shooting early, which was a good idea, but he may've been better served using his pace and trying to round him.
Anthony
Furlonge had a decent game at right-back and made some crucial interventions, although early on he stgruggled to cut out a couple of centres, whilst the opposite full-back Teddy
Nesbitt looked relatively solid whilst also haring up field to support the winger. Merrick
James-Lewis was a bit disappointing today; tried to take too many touches and often got caught in possession, which posed us a few problems.
Overall I left Roots Hall thinking that we shaded the game, yet Evans had made a series of fine stops, so Oxford on balance had the better opportunities, but we saw more of the ball.
