Oxford united FC
Ed Still ‘angry’ after Watford defeat at Oxford United
Myles Peart-Harris and Mark Harris scored the goals to defeat the Hornets at the Kassam and maintain their survival push going into the final four games of the Championship season.
The U’s were the better team on the day, looking more dangerous in forward areas and keeping the visitors as arm’s length for the vast majority of the game.
“We haven’t been good enough, basically,” Still summarised.
“The performance there, we haven’t matched Oxford in terms of aggression, in terms of adapting to this type of game at this moment of the season.
“Everything becomes more intense, more power-based, and we haven’t been able to deal with it well enough and to lose the game on a set-piece, second ball, a very similar goal to what we’ve conceded against Charlton only a few days ago, and then for it to be killed off by a mistake at the end there is extremely frustrating.
“It makes you angry and all the rest of those negative emotions.
“I think everybody had that feeling that we haven’t been able to match them and to create a sufficient amount of moments in the game where we could dictate the play,” the brother of former Southampton boss, Will Still, continued.
“There’s been a period in the first half, there’s been a period in the second half, but overall it’s not enough.
“They’ve just exploited their strengths to the utmost. Taking that set-piece goal early on and the pitch, with the bobbly pitch that it is, the wind as it is, all of those factors, they’ve dealt with everything and done much better than what we have.”
After the win, Matt Bloomfield’s Oxford move up a place to 22nd in the table, Gary Rowett’s Leicester City having been defeated by Swansea City at home, and one point from safety.
READ MORE: Oxford United’s Jack Currie to undergo surgery on ankle
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Rivals Portsmouth pulled off a dramatic 1-0 win in the dying moments at the Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough to keep themselves a singular point above the U’s.
United have a week to prepare for their next match, a trip to Derby County who were beaten by Saints at the weekend.
There is hope that Jack Currie will be well enough to return to the squad after it was confirmed that he would undergo surgery on his ankle at the end of the season.
Nik Prelec, who rolled his ankle last week in training and missed the Watford win, is also hopeful for the journey to Pride Park.
The U’s swatted away the Hornets thanks to a first-half goal from Myles Peart-Harris and a 92nd-minute finish from Mark Harris to pick up a huge three points in their quest for Championship survival.
Oxford dispelled their recent trends of conceding early and dropping points late on as the Yellows boss acknowledged the weight of Saturday’s victory.
“It was crucial today, especially considering the magnitude of the situation that we’re in,” Bloomfield confirmed.
“We have to try and maximise every opportunity, but we’re certainly not getting carried away. We’re still below the line.
“We’ve got a lot of work still to do, but we’re giving ourselves a real chance.
“I think we would have taken that a few games ago to be where we are and still fighting and having given ourselves the opportunity that we have, but…there’s plenty more work still to do.
“I said to the lads before the game, big players, big characters stepped forward and I thought we had a few that really stepped forward today.
“The most important thing was getting three points today…but I don’t see how you do that without chasing the performance.
“So the performance today is really satisfying, especially second half.
“[In the] second half, to play with the energy and the intent, I thought there was a real intent about us.
“It would have been obviously very nice to try and get the second a little bit earlier to make it a bit more comfortable because at 1-0, with opposition the calibre of Watford, the individual players that they have, it can turn at any moment.
“Our football intelligence tells us they’re going to have a little spell at some point and at 1-0, one moment can change your afternoon from elation to frustration.
READ MORE: Oxford United’s Jack Currie to undergo surgery on ankle
READ MORE: Oxford United beat Watford with 2-0 Championship victory
READ MORE: Brodie Spencer on ‘most important’ period at Oxford United
“I was a little bit nervous that defending a one-gone lead, there’s just one instant that could go the other way. We wanted to try and get that second and make it more comfortable and obviously it came pretty late. It would have been nice to come back a bit earlier.
United are certainly still in the fight with four more Championship games remaining.
“It certainly looks like a team that believes in each other and in themselves and what they’re doing.
“It takes time to work on these things. The level of our performance in the last couple of months…has been fairly good.
“But you can also lose it as quickly as you can find it. So we have to cherish it, I think, and keep working at it because we don’t want to lose it.”
Oxford United face Watford in a huge chance to pick up points in their aim for Championship survival.
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Currie has missed the last three games due to an injury to his ankle and experienced another knock in training on Friday.
U’s boss Bloomfield shed light on the situation after his side’s 2-0 victory over Watford which the left back watched from the stands.
“Jack needs to have an operation at the end of the season; I don’t think I’m breaking any medical secrets by telling you that,” Bloomfield revealed.
“He’s got a slight issue with his ankle. Nothing serious, but he needs to have that tidied up. He had a little bit of a knock again in training yesterday.
“The decision at the moment is a big threat for Watford was coming down their right-hand side and Brodie is an incredible one versus one defender, pace, power. He scored last week, is really good at defending down his side, was a better option than Jack at 70, 80 per cent for instance. But Jack doesn’t want to have his operation yet.
“He’s going to have it at the end of the season. So he’s available for us when we need him. We will need him at some point, I’m sure.
Despite being available for the Yellows in theory, Currie remained missing from the match day squad against Hornets, along with Aidomo Emakhu and Nik Prelec.
READ MORE: Oxford United beat Watford with 2-0 Championship victory
READ MORE: Brodie Spencer on ‘most important’ period at Oxford United
READ MORE: RECAP – Oxford United 2-0 Watford
“The reason for not having him on the bench is because Hidde can play both sides,” the 42-year-old head coach explained.
“Plus, any player can come on the pitch and get injured and come off again. But because we feel like there’s an extra risk for Jack with his ankle, if we put him on, are we going to need to take him off?
“That may happen at some point. But, yeah, the explanation for today was…in fact, the player that we were defending, Irankunda, went over the other side because Brodie defended him so well in the first half. So that was the reason for that selection.
Slovenian striker Prelec missed out on the squad unexpectedly, leaving U’s fans questioning his absence, with Bloomfield also disclosed.
“Nik rolled his ankle in training on Thursday. Trained yesterday but didn’t feel confident in his ankle. So I don’t think it’s serious.
“We hope to have him back available as soon as possible. But yeah, that was the reason why he came out of the squad for today.”
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