Oxford v Luton Town

[Chippy]

Surprised this hasn't been started yet so here goes.

Promotion chasing Luton travel the 70 odd miles to Oxford tomorrow looking for their first back to back league wins since October. Luton have also not scored more than once in an away game since October 18th, and no striker has scored for Luton since November 29th.

Luton welcome new signings Ruan Hall and Nathan Oduwa straight into the travelling party and I expect Hall to start from the off. We can also welcome back a Pelly Ruddock and Luke Guttridge from injury, which makes Luton look a far stronger team than this time a week ago.

As for Oxford, a season of inconsistency and indifferent form has left them 5 points above the drop zone. No home win in four (and only snatching a draw in the last minute at home to Exeter) is a concern for the U's who will be looking to end that run and put some distance between them and the bottom two.

Having missed out on the signing of Tyrone Barnert this week they'll be relying on Danny Hylton and youngster James Roberts for goals.

Oxford wi need to produce a much better performance than they did at Kenilworth road earlier in the season if they want to get a win here, and I just feel Luton are starting to gain that 'juggernaut' style momentum again.

Prediction -
Oxford 1-2 Luton
Debut goal for Hall to win it for Luton in front of just under 2,500 travelling fans.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

This will be a lot tougher than the home game, Oxford have brought in some decent looking players since that time and is expect them to start moving up the league a little bit now, even though they still have Appleton as manager!

With some players coming back I want to see us getting closer to Stockley, he has played four games (I think?) and you can't really judge him as he has been isolated each and every game. We must start making it easier on our forward players. Hopefully the new lads and Guttridge returning will help with that.

I think it will be a draw but I'd love a win to build some momentum.

 

[Kenneth E End]

This was 5 years ago?!

 

[Kenneth E End]

The pitch not exactly in good shape, thanks to London Welsh. Shouldn't be playing rugby on pitches that just aren't up to it. The supporters deserve an explanation if the 1130 inspection fails, because there hasn't been that much snow, rain or frost in the last couple of days.

https://twitter.com/bbcoxfordsport/status/563992219775168512

Edit: The game is definitely on.

Its not going to suit Oxford's style of football though is it? Are you still playing that silly side-to-side rubbish?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Seemed like we were under a lot of pressure for a lot of that second half so I guess 1-1 is a decent result. Disappointing to have gone ahead and not won though, that's been out bread and butter this season, go ahead and close the game down.

Wycombe and Burton starting to assert themselves over the rest too.

 

[Vanni]

Seemed like we were under a lot of pressure for a lot of that second half so I guess 1-1 is a decent result. Disappointing to have gone ahead and not won though, that's been out bread and butter this season, go ahead and close the game down.

Wycombe and Burton starting to assert themselves over the rest too.

Wycombe are looking like real promotion candidates now, if they weren't already. They are one of those sides that always seem to win by a single goal. Their football isn't entertaining at all, but as we all know , it's the points that count.

 

[djs]

I might get slaughtered for this, but I think that I can see why John Still does well at lower levels but has never managed higher.


Referring to some comments above re the standard of football in Lge 2, having seen about 25 Lge 2 games and 3 Lge 1 games at Walsall (small sample I know) this season, there seems to be a big jump in standard/skill/attitude/approach/tactics/etc.. And Wycombe weren't even that bad when we played them!

 

[Judge Dredd]

Don't care about our current state of affairs. I would genuinely rather stay in Bury Park forever and ever than build a new ground in the middle of nowhere like Oxford. Away fans banned from even Frankie and fucking Bennies - shameful. Would rather stay where we are now forever than have to live in the middle of an industrial estate/cinema like them.

 

[HertsCobbler]

So you were not a fan of the Kohlerdome! Serious question are there certain parts of Luton where you cannot build due to flgihtpath of the Airport? Would have thought the old Vauxhall site may be a good compromise?

 

[Judge Dredd]

So you were not a fan of the Kohlerdome! Serious question are there certain parts of Luton where you cannot build due to flgihtpath of the Airport? Would have thought the old Vauxhall site may be a good compromise?

The big rumour at the minute is that we have bought land at the Brache, but that is directly in the flight path of the air port and my understanding was there are restrictive limits on building sizes for that area.

Unfortunately the old Vauxhall site is out of our price range - there are plans to build 600 new houses, a supermarket and a hotel there already.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Both league 1 teams we have played this year, Swindon and Crawley, were clearly far superior to us and I haven't seen a side in this division who I think would compete at any serious level with them, and Crawley are struggling in that league.

I honestly feel like the fact we are near the top of this league says more about the standard of the league than it does about us. That's a pretty negative statement I know but I can't honestly point to a game this year and say we were fantastic that day it's alI been grind it out results. In a similar vein, I haven't seen a side who I can say "they're good".

 

[Kenneth E End]

Both league 1 teams we have played this year, Swindon and Crawley, were clearly far superior to us.

I agree with this 100%. Not sure we're "ready" for promotion just yet, but you can see that Still is trying to build a very good young side.
If we signed McGeehan and Oduwa permanently, alongside Pelly Ruddock, we have 3 potentially very sellable assets there in the future. You could argue Mark Cullen is below this little group, but the club rate him highly.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Unfortunately the old Vauxhall site is out of our price range.

Just a tad. Worth millions that land.