Oxford Grab Deserved Draw

After a poor first half display, Oxford United here turned it around in the second half of the game as they grabbed a draw away at Torquay. Torquay dominated the first half, only managed the one goal however and this was only due to poor Oxford United defending from a corner kick. The Oxford United players had been drawn to the ball leaving the post completely unmarked and allowing for defender Chris Robertson to cruise in and grab a goal for the home side. Chris Robertson didn’t seem to know too much about the goal, he came rushing in and the ball bounced off his trailing leg and went through the legs of Billy Turley to find the back of the net. Torquay were good value for the lead, it was poor defending on Oxford’s behalf however and they really should have done more to stop it.

Despite disappointing in the first half, Oxford United came out in the second like a completely different team, enjoying much of the possession and creating a number of chances to level the game. Haldane had a great chance to score, didn’t get his whole weight behind the shot but still it took a strong save from Scott Bevan to deny him by pushing the ball onto the post and away from goal.

In the 89th minute of the match Oxford’s equalising goal came and it was Trainer who was the man to grab it. Again from a corner; Trainer cruised into the box in a similar style to that which Robertson had done early on and was happy to see his shot hit the back of the net. Oxford had drawn level and it was now too late for Torquay to do anything about it.

A draw was a fair reflection of the game, both teams played well for a half and each side deserved a point. It will have felt like a loss for Torquay to have conceded so late on; Oxford United will have been happy to have grabbed a point that never seemed too likely at the stage of the game the goal was scored though, and the Oxford fans will be by far the happier of the two side’s supporters.

It was a decent second half of football for Oxford, and having broken the Setanta curse against Cambridge; a draw against a team that had won five of its last 6 games wasn’t too bad a result at all. Oxford United’s season is now looking up a little, the side is still struggling but it’s all starting to come together a little more than it had been and that’s always good to see.

Torquay 1-1 Oxford United