Oxfordshire Senior Cup Final

Carterton Town 0-3 Banbury United

A good game spoiled only by the fact that Torquay won and i missed the last two goals becouse of pissing around with my camera. Basically Carterton played with a lot of pride but Banbury's Southern League Premier quality won the day, there's not much point me saying more about the game as The Oxford mail and Chris' article on our official site probably say enough. One thing I did learn though, never go to Carfax fish and chips if your in a rush. It genuinely took 20 minutes to buy a small pie and there was only one customer in front of me!!

For all my Picture click here: http://public.fotki.com/girondinant/oscfinal/

Only two games left to save 44 years of league football.

It could not be tighter at the bottom of league 2 with only three points seperating Torquay in 23rd from Bury in 17th. Although it is Torquay who actually sit in the final relegation place they are one of the form teams in the division and last night thrashed Stockport 4-0 to bring themselves level with the U's on 48 points and put the frighteners back on Stockport, Barnet and Macclesfield who all have 50 points.
Of all the teams involved in the fight to avoid this most horrible of all relegations it does seem to be Oxford who look most likely to drop. The other sides either have a precious point advantage or like Torquay, are managing to put a half decent string of results together whilst Oxford remain in freefall.


Last saturday saw the 20th anniversary of the greatest moment in the clubs history, the winning of the Milk Cup. The currant state of the club made the occasion at best bittersweet but despite the fans best efforts and a 'sea of yellow' tifo display the U's crumbled to 3-1 defeat to strong determined Northampton team. What more do they want?? They can no longer call on more support from the stands, there is no other country in Europe with a 4th division that can provide the crowds and atmosphere of a big league 2 match. As one of the bigger clubs in the division, Oxford fans can out sing most competition yet the players played like the didn't give a shiny shite and thats what hurts. 2500 Cobblers (Northampton fans, not actual cobblers - thatwould just be wierd) made the trip and they got behind their team from the off. It's hard to hold a grudge against them as it highlights the stark contrast between the two teams so close geographically yet so different. One rewards the loyalty of it's great fans whilst the other continues to insult them.

At this rate we derserve to play in the conference.

For photo's of a day that was painfully hard to swallow follow this link: http://public.fotki.com/girondinant/oxfordnorthampton/

Girondins Update

Defeat at Lille but three points at Sochaux puts Champions League within grasp.

Two Saturday's ago Les Girondins travelled to Lille for a second verses third showdown, and having drawn and lost the last two games it was important that Bordeaux got at least a draw to maintain distance between themselves and the rapidly closing pack. They didn't. Basically Lille had the greater fire power and capitalised on Bordeaux's weakness in scoring goals. Lille ran out deserved 3-2 winners and left Les Girondins with only a three point gap between themselves and third place with a game in hand away at Sochaux, a place where Bordeaux have traditionally struggled.
Yesterday evening was a chance for Ricardo's men to show the rest of the league that they really do have the qualities of a good side. A high pressure away tie at Stade Bonal the scene of many maulings dealt out by the Lions of Sochaux to their Aquitanian visitors was effectively make or break for les Marine et Blancs, this time a win would put them six points clear of Lille in third and eight clear of Rennes in fourth with only three games to go. All season I have been highly critical of Bordeaux's reliance on defence but on sunday they put in their performance of the season winning 3-0 finally convincing me that this side is the real deal and has the building blocks for future success. A win next saturday at home to mid table Le-mans will garantee at least third place and entry into the Champions League qualifiers and more importantly the knowledge that just one point from their last two games against old rivals Nantes and Marseille will seal the all-importand second spot.



Allez Bordeaux!! Nous venons gagner!!!

Girondins Update

Girondins Bordeaux 0-0 AS St Etienne

To be honest not a bad point but St Etienne are firmly mid-table with nothing to play for so I expected more. Les Stephanois battled hard and earned a point by encouraging Bordeaux as the home side to come out and attack them. Knowing Bordeaux have the attacking prowess of wet celery St Etienne were able to soak up most of the pressure from the home side reducing them to long range shots, the vast majority of which either blazed over the bar or went wide. Lille could only draw so they gained no ground on Les Girondins second place, Rennes however have been quietly steaming up the league and won their 8th straight game lifting them into second with a 5 point deficit to Bordeaux.
Whilst the game itself was little to write home about the Ultramarines put on a spectactuar display to celebrate the unique amitié between St Etienne's Magic Fans 91 and themselves. It was possibly one of the best tifo's at Parc Lescure this season just a shame it wasn't dark then it would have looked amazing.

Imagine the East Stand at Oxford looking like this...

Oxford

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some pictures of Oxford on here?? What do you think?? Yeah me too, here you go then...

High Street

Some College or other

Oooh hills...

The Radcliffe Camera (Designed by James Gibbs - Not Kodak...)

Ummm... more Colleges I think.

Oxford - Famously nicer than Banbury.

Girondins Update

Paris St Germain 3-1 Girondins Bordeaux

After carefull deliberation I have decided not to bother witing this game up. It was a massive game for the fans who travelled in great numbers all the way across the country (or like me sat up until half three at night and was knackered for a whole week) to watch a most pathetic excuse for a performance.
Fair enough Bordeaux had six first team players out but having equalised quickly instead of pushing on and taking the game to PSG they sat back, conceded two more and then offered no fight in the second half. It doesn't really affect the league campaign but they owed this to their fans. Not good enough.
One apect of the game I cannot fault though is the performance of Pauleta. His first half hat trick was absolutely devastating but the dignity with which the ex-Bordeaux striker showed whilst single handily destroying his old club was exemplary. After each of his goals he simply walked away to receive the congratulations of his team mates rather than go crazy and taunt the Bordeaux fans. His workrate was second to none and it is such a shame that he left Les Girondins for the capital but at the time it was the right move for him and there is no bitterness towards him.

Pauleta Celebrates another goal during his time at the mighty Girondins!!

Mansfield away - what a bloody mess!!

The palaver that is Oxford United's season took another turn for the worst on saturday as we deservedly lost at field mill. The goal that beat us was dodgy to say the least - after seeing it several times it doesn't look like the ball crossed the line but the Stags had a pefectly good goal ruled out earlier in the game and were by far the better side for much of the afternoon and deserved the win.
701 Oxford fans made the trip made the trip to Mansfield and for 84 minutes were a credit to the club then suddenly it all went wrong. After Mansfields dis-allowed goal about ten minutes earlier, the atmosphere in the ground changed to something a little more tense and aggressive than it had been although nothing that would have given anyone cause for concern. with just under ten minutes to go in the game a glass bottle came over the side of the stand into the away end hitting a women and child, whilst they were not injured they were of course shaken up and fans around them believing it was thrown by are own fans (who were
more drunk and rowdy than I've seen all year) began agrily remonstrating. Stewards sensing a problem moved into the stand realising what had really happened and calmed everyone down and offering to take those hit by the bottle to the other end of the stand.
As this confusion was going on Mansfield scored which only added to the tension and a group of fans began to follow stewards along the path in front of the stand towards the home end. Without warning two prats suddenly bolted across the pitch towards the Mansfield fans almost making it but taken down by stewards just in time. As the stewards were dealing with the two idiots, around 50 'fans' charged the Mansfield stand getting almost close enough to exchange handfulls of coins, were it not for the quick heavy handed approach of the Mansfield stewards there would have been serious fighting and we could have been docked several points. It took about five minutes to force the fans back from the home concourse and although the game was able to re-start order was not really restored until 15 minutes after the final wistle.

For the rest of the pictures of the day click on this link:

http://public.fotki.com/girondinant/manfieldvoxford/