MATTY AND U’S DO JIM PROUD...
The FLP’s Hugo Varley reports on a special night for Oxford United…
FOR a few short minutes at a raucous Kassam Stadium on Wednesday night, Oxford United were daring to dream.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City allstars, the U’s stormed out of the blocks in the second half like Usain Bolt in his prime.
Hometown hero Matty Taylor – on loan from Bristol City – latched on to Shandon Baptiste’s quickly-taken free-kick down the flank, expertly turning his man and clinically finished past Claudio Bravo in front of the East Stand. There were just 21 seconds on the clock.
The Kassam was rocking like never before and City were stung. But they aren’t serial winners for nothing. Just four minutes later Raheem Sterling – who else? – struck from close-range to put the visitors back in front.
The U’s continued to bomb forward as if their lives depended on it. Even Sterling’s second, on 70 minutes, didn’t put them off. With a bit more precision with their finishing, who knows what might have happened.
Yet Karl Robinson’s men could be mighty proud of their efforts, despite the 3-1 reverse. And
Taylor will always have that magic moment to look back upon.
“It was an absolutely amazing feeling,” said the 29-year-old striker. “It was nice to score at the end I did rather than in front of the fence because I would have probably jumped over it!
“I nearly ran out of steam and fell over but, thankfully, I got the shot away and it squeezed in.”
While the result got away from them, United did make a little bit of history in firing 18 shots at goal - the most attempts ever faced by a City side under Guardiola.
Tariqe Fosu, Jamie Mackie and Mark Sykes all went agonisingly close late on as City were forced to dig deep in the face of numerous intense attacks.
Their spirited display marked another feather in the cap of an Oxford side who have been making waves in League One this season.
Last weekend’s narrow defeat at MK Dons brought the end to a superb 11game unbeaten run which had seen them fly up the table.
A proud Robinson,
left, said: “We were determined not to roll over and let them come away from here without having a glove laid on them.
“To be honest, I am crazily frustrated. We took them on in a game which they are probably the best in the world at.
“I thought for 25 or 30 minutes we were the better team in the second half. We had chances and they weren’t throw-away opportunities, they were gilt-edged chances.”
Indeed, even Guardiola was full of praise for his opponents, telling reporters: “With the ball they were brilliant and without it they still defended incredibly well. I congratulated Karl because they were extraordinary.”
Before the Carabao Cup quarter-final, a moving tribute in the form of a minute’s applause was paid to U’s legend Jim Smith, who famously guided the club to back-to-back promotions to reach England’s top tier for the first time in their history in 1985.
It therefore seemed fitting that Oxford put in the kind of gutsy display on Wednesday which typified Smith’s reign in charge.
“If Jim is looking down somewhere I think he would be a very proud man tonight to be associated with this football club” said Robinson. “We will dedicate that performance to him. It had everything that he believed in. We ran around, showed heart, desire and commitment. Hopefully we did him proud.”
They sure did.