Two circus type goals from Oxford United signalled more misery for Russell Martin at the Kassam Stadium in the EFL Cup tonight. The first a calamitous error by keeper Steven Benda, the second a ridiculous deflection from an Oxford United free kick. And all this after Swansea looked to be coasting to their first win of the season.
It’s never the best gauge of a teams performance so early in the season, especially with so many changes but Swansea City controlled much of this game at the Kassam Stadium. Despite a good start to the game by the hosts it was the swans who started to stamp their authority on this game after a few scares early on. With the away side again winning the possession stats they slowly began to dominate Oxford with their passing game. Nathanael Ogbeta looked lively on the Swansea left along with Cameron Congreve and Oli Cooper, all three seemingly determined to take advantage of a first team start.
With keeper discussions at a premium at Swansea it was U’s goalkeeper Ed Mcgjnty who started the clowning around by hand balling outside of his area, an offence judged as a yellow card by referee Thomas Bramall. The resultant free kick was fired home by Jay Fulton who has seen his presence in the first team increase week on week since Russell Martin stated he wasn’t in his plans last year. Eight minutes gone and the visitors were one up.
The swans carried on their dominance of the game and the lively Ogbeta block tackled an opponent and the ball ran free for Liam Cullen who cooly slid his shot under Mcginty to make it 2-0. The more frustrating side of Swansea then surfaced, failing to capitalise on an Ogbeta cross. Ryan Manning was again involved in everything good about the swans play and the neat footwork of Cameron Congreve ensured that Oxford were kept at bay despite their desire to match Swansea on the night.
Matt Sorinola had a free kick blocked and Joel Latibeaudiere fired the rebound in to the U’s area as did Ogbeta but neither could take advantage. More chances came and went and the story of the season so far repeated itself when opportunities really should have been taken. The half time score should have been more but Russell Martin would have been happy with the performance for sure.
Not the best of debuts for Joe Allen
The second half was a lot different with Oxford who also made numerous changes pressing the swans defence. Swansea retained their cool possession and passing and with nine hundred fans cheering them on it looked a breeze and a complete change of fortune too for Russell Martin. The warning signs were there though, and despite the fortunate way that Oxford got back in to the game with Benda’s error from a back pass the small home crowd sensed something could take the game to penalties. If there was a turning point in the game it was the introduction of Joe Allen, Olivier Ntcham and Nathan Wood which seemed to unsettle the swans.
There can’t be any excuses for this loss, and their can’t be anything Russell Martin can say to deflect the blame from the whole nights business. Oxford’s equaliser came from panic defending by the swans, the deflected free kick just about summing up Martin’s luck so far this season. There will be more discontent from the growing ranks of dissatisfied Swansea fans, but this game wasn’t lost on penalties. It was lost when the tinkering and substitutions were made in the second half. Cameron Congreve had to happen, he was injured but taking off Harry Darling, Joel Latibeaudiere, Jay Fulton, Ryan Manning and Congreve so quickly making four substitutions at once was suicide. Up to that point the swans were cruising, the game wasn’t won but it signalled a change of tempo and a rearguard action the swans couldn’t carry off.
More questions will now be raised on the current Swansea City stewardship, not least the decision making that has seen the squad look weak and lacking in energy and firepower. Whatever happens now, Blackpool away on Saturday where yet again a huge Swansea support will travel is pivotal to where Russell Martin stands come Saturday evening. It’s getting down to fine margins now, and the last thing Swansea City as a club needs is the managers future spinning on the next result. When that happens the inevitable is just around the corner.
Oxford United: McGinty; Golding, Moore (C), Brown, Seddon (Findlay 46); Gorrin; Henry (Browne 61), Bate (McGuane 61); Jones (Brannagan 46), Bodin (Spasov 79), Goodrham.
Subs not used: Eastwood, Long, Smyth, Taylor.
Goals: Gorrin 71, Brannagan 90+2
Yellow cards: McGinty 7, Browne 64
Swansea City: Benda; Latibeaudiere (Ntcham 60), Cabango (C), Darling (Wood 60), Manning (Abdulai 60); Fulton (Allen 60), O Cooper; Sorinola, Congreve (Cotterill 78), Ogbeta; Cullen.
Subs not used: Matthews, Lloyd, Williams, Thomas.
Goals: Fulton 8, Cullen 25
Yellow cards: Sorinola 74, Cullen 80
Referee: Thomas Bramall
Attendance: 4,373 (873 away)