Oxford 0-1 Sheffield Utd: Blades Blunt Oxford Attack

Both sides find themselves spending their weekend in the relegation zone as the visitors collected their first points of the season at the Kassam Stadium to put an end to Oxford’s strong recent run.

Sheffield United recently restored Chris Wilder to the throne after they gave him the summer off and had a fling with Ruben Selles. One goal and no points in five league games saw the Selles experiment come to its conclusion two weeks ago and Wilder seems to have started to mould the side back into his winning image. They are still nowhere near the standard of their 90-point season last time out, but restoring reigning Championship Player Of The Season Gustavo Hamer to the lineup is a big step towards getting their mojo back. Wilder’s first hurdle is to improve morale amongst the players and fanbase alike, their squad is more than good enough to challenge and there are plenty of games left to make up the difference, but he needs to get everyone around the club believing again.

Any seasoned Championship fan could tell you that a Rowett v Wilder game was hardly going to be a display of liquid tiki-taka football, both managers preferring a more pragmatic approach, but both sides let their talents show as the battle was won and lost on the quality of the Blades’ defence. Academy product Sydie Peck did an excellent job shielding the Sheffield United backline, who did well to neuter the threat of lively Spurs loanee Will Lankshear and keep him from extending his excellent start to the season.

Oxford Push but Fail to Break Through

Gary Rowett’s Oxford side will be disappointed with the result, not only because their opponents have been woeful all season but the U’s definitely had the run of play and better of the chances. Polish winger Przemyslaw Placheta did well early on to break through the defensive wall and reach the byline, he put in a cross and found a teammate at the back post who headed back into the area. His wing counterpart Filip Krastev tried to craft an opportunity but couldn’t put enough space between him and his defender to pull the trigger and opted to lay the ball off to midfielder Brian De Keersmaecker arriving on the edge of the area instead. By the time Oxford had managed to work a shooting opportunity, Sheffield United had crowded the area and his shot was deflected harmlessly into Michael Cooper’s palms. The hosts’ talismanic midfielder Cameron Brannigan also had an effort saved, he tried one of his trademark long-range screamers but wasn’t able to generate the required power and Cooper saved comfortably.

Attacking midfield player Callum O’Hare has had a tumultuous Sheffield United career so far after arriving at Bramall Lane on a free transfer from Coventry last summer. Large portions of the fanbase are less than convinced, but his goal today will go a long way to winning them all over. Chiedozie Ogbene burst down the right and managed to keep the ball in play just enough to dig out a cross into the Oxford area. The ball dropped to O’Hare in space and he took a touch to steady himself before firing the ball low into the bottom-left corner for his first and his club’s second goal of the league season. 1-0 to the away side and the travelling Blades fans just managed to remember how to celebrate a goal.

Late Pressure From Oxford

After the goal it was all Oxford once again as they stormed the box and hit cross after cross in search of a deserved equaliser. They came close on a few occasions, substitute Gregory Leigh at the heart of the best of it. Leigh hit the post with his second touch of the ball, volleying on the turn after successive Oxford crosses and having Cooper well beaten, not long afterwards he won the flick-on from a free kick into the area and instigated a goalmouth scramble that ultimately ended in Will Vaulks shooting high and wide from outside the area.

The full-time whistle blew and Chris Wilder graciously took the points and ran. Not a swashbuckling performance by any means but three points are three points and after the season Sheffield United are having they will take any positives they can. The Kassam is a tricky place to travel and not many teams will leave there victorious this season, Blades fans and staff alike will be hoping they can use the result as a springboard to kickstart their season and essentially write off the first six games altogether. If they’re going to return to their former glory they need to do it fast, welcoming a struggling but kitted-out Southampton side to the Lane in midweek before travelling to face the wrath of in-form former Blades striker Oli McBurnie in Hull next weekend.

Review

Those of an Oxford persuasion can take a lot of confidence from this performance after a streak of good results against very good teams, they evidently aren’t the Championship whipping-boys that most people had them down as when they were promoted from League One. A stern test at QPR awaits midweek before a make-or-break run of fixtures against fellow relegation candidates Watford, Derby, Wrexham and Sheffield Wednesday. Come November, in the wake of these games, we will know a lot more about where Oxford stand and just how concerned they should be regarding a return to the third tier.

For all the teams languishing at the bottom end of the table a string of good results can see your outlook on the season looking much brighter, just three points separating 14th and 23rd. Despite victory this time out, Sheffield United still prop up the table just behind city rivals Wednesday and today’s hosts Oxford make up the final relegation place. It’s still very early days and absolutely everything is subject to change, but you can’t help but feel like we are starting to work out which teams are the cream that will rise to the top and which teams’ owners might begin to develop itchy trigger fingers if results don’t improve.