Punished Late Again, But It Was Entertaining

What was to be expected from yesterday’s game? Quite frankly heaven only knew, given our dire recent run of results, our opponents’ mixed form of late, and with a squad stretched to its limits and with the January reshaping having only just begun with the arrival of Bakinson and Fiorini on loan and the premature release of Tedic. I’d have said the bottom line was we really needed something from the game, at least a draw, to avoid being sucked further towards the relegation area.

We did at least get that. And with thoughts of closing the gap on those above us really redundant now I actually enjoyed the game, warts and all, even with another late goal resulting in more points surrendered. The two teams had contrasting styles and different strengths, while added to the mix were some heroic goalkeeping (with a costly error or two thrown in), defensive howlers (not especially from us this time, although our failure to close down their guys proved our undoing), one penalty awarded out of three possibles, and final stats which showed we had seven attempts on goal, four of them on target, and scored with three of them, compared with 29, 12 and three respectively for Port Vale. Those figures, plus the fact that our third goal came at a time when there appeared only one team likely to win the game and it wasn’t us, did at least ease the pain of their late – and third of the day – equaliser.

The contrast in styles was epitomised by the two centre-forwards on display. They had a 28-year-old powerhouse in Ikpeazu, a guy who made his professional debut about a decade ago and recently returned from playing in Turkey. He has been around the block as they say and knows what his game is all about. He put in the sort of display we sometimes saw from Aneke and was, to say the least, a handful from start to finish. We had a guy just turned 19, full of promise with his career ahead of him but still learning his trade, one who began this season being loaned out to National League Southend. Asking Kanu to compete for balls in the air and to hold up play for others, against seasoned defenders, a task tailor-made for Ikpeazu, was grossly unfair. He was nevertheless rewarded for his efforts with his second-half goal, one which underlined that he may not yet have the strength but he can make up for it with other attributes. Port Vale were able to feed off Ikpeazu inside and outside the box, while our real threat had to come down the flanks, relying more on moments of individual skill.

The game came too soon for either Bakinson or Fiorini to be included, and too soon also for May to be ready to return. That meant the only change from Oxford was an enforced one, with Campbell(C) added to the injured list. Watson(L) was given the nod to start over Fraser, who stayed on the bench, with Ness added to the squad.

We barely got a touch in the opening minutes and they just looked much bigger than us. But that Port Vale dominance didn’t last and within the first 10 minutes both Campbell(T) and Blackett-Taylor beat their opposite numbers and gave us grounds for optimism. Indeed, as we settled into the game we dominated possession, content to go back and sideways while Port Vale got men behind the ball. We had moments without creating anything clear-cut, but just before the half-hour we did take the lead. A Dobson corner was headed out but Edun managed to turn it back goalwards. Watson(L) rose well to flick the ball on and CBT read the developing situation better than anyone else, having the pace to get to the loose ball first. He shot low and hard and we were ahead.

Not long after we had the game’s first penalty appeal. Ikpeazu won another contest and played the ball out left. The cross came in and their guy met it first time with a shot which looked on target. Hector was close by and the ball hit his outstretched arm. There was no movement of the arm to the ball, no time for that, but it was held out. A VAR review would I think have resulted in a spot kick, it fell into the category at this level of ‘seen them given’.

As half-time approached Port Vale seemed to up their game and from a position of dominance we quickly came under the cosh. They really should have equalised as a cross found their guy with the goal at his mercy, only he scuffed the shot and Maynard-Brewer was able to claw it away, then followed that up by saving a decent shot. And we were unable to see out the half as they found space down their right side and as Anderson stretched to try to close down the cross his arm came out, the ball hit it, and the ref really had little option but to award the penalty. No intent but … The penalty was converted and we almost managed to fall behind as Jones, who was already on a yellow, was caught out, the move ending with a shot over the bar.

At the break there were mixed emotions, seemed like a game which could easily go either way. Port Vale had begun and ended the half strongly – and when they were in the ascendency we had panicked, or at least struggled to keep them at bay. But in between we had been setting the pace, controlling the game, and had scored. The first-half stats said a lot as we had 62% possession and two shots (one on target), against 12 for Port Vale (six on target).

The early second-half exchanges were inconclusive, with Vale winning a number of corners, which in general we coped with well, while we had a decent CBT cut inside and shot, Kanu was almost in but his touch took the ball too wide, and Cambell had a low cross/shot which went just past the post. But before the hour we took the lead again, in a fashion the Vale defence will not want to be reminded of. Blackett-Taylor found himself on the right for once, but his cross went to one of their guys. He opted for a square pass rather than clearance and their guy was challenged by Edun. The ball ran kindly for Kanu, but he made the most of the chance, firing home.

The lead lasted a few minutes. Maynard-Brewer had already made another decent save before their guy laid the ball off on their right side for another to put in the cross. He had the time and space to choose where to put it and dinked one in that was meat and drink to Ikpeazu. He made it his, getting in front of Hector, but his header across goal probably should have been saved, Maynard-Brewer getting an arm in the way of the ball but not managing to keep it out. It was the only blot on his afternoon.

That heralded another spell of Port Vale pressure and the script seemed all too familiar: we get tired, can’t bring on effective replacements, the opposition eventually score a winner. For a while that did look likely. Thomas coming on for Edun seemed indicative of the need for more height in our area. More Port Vale corners, yellow for Dobson, but just when we were fearing the worst we went and scored again, somewhat out of the blue. A CBT cross from the left was headed out but Thomas got to the ball first and managed to divert it back across goal, where it found Campbell, who had taken the chance to move inside. His shot was decent and across their keeper. It really should have been saved, but wasn’t.

With almost 10 minutes of normal time plus stoppage time to go, nobody was feeling confident about holding the lead. But with some desperate defending, a yellow for Watson(L), and despite a Thomas howler we managed to get to the six extra minutes still in front, with Asiimwe having replaced a tired and/or injured Blackett-Taylor, Campbell moving to the left side. That the equaliser did come was not so surprising, but the circumstances were. There seemed little danger as the ball was played forward, just evading Watson(L). But from the edge of the area their guy put in a shot which seemed to curl around Jones and left Maynard-Brewer rooted to the spot.

There was still time for the game’s final penalty appeal, this one for us. The ball was chipped in delightfully and for a moment Dobson looked like scoring. But he ended up trying a backheel, one which resulted in the ball hitting the arm of their guy. Was his arm outstretched? Had he moved it towards the ball? Was hard to tell. I’d say it was on a par with the earlier one by Hector which wasn’t given, so perhaps for once these things did even out over the game. Still would have been very nice for it to have been given. Instead Port Vale’s keeper cleared the ball quickly and it looked as though they were on for a late break, only for the ref to pull back play to book Thomas. We were incensed by being denied a penalty, Port Vale were incensed by play having been stopped, and chaos reigned as the final whistle blew.

I do still view it as a point gained rather than two lost. Perhaps that reflects my thoughts before the game. If we had lost, which for periods of the game looked likely even if we were never behind, that would have started to fray the nerves. We know more changes are coming in January, that before long some of the injured will return. We also know that in terms of the season the objective now is to ‘see how high we can get’ and to prepare for the next campaign. Of course two more points would have been very welcome, we would now be sitting in 11th rather than 13th and be nine rather than seven points above the drop zone. But whereas the points lost through December were season-defining, these two were surely not.