Last-gasp shocker
OXFORD'S FOOTBALLERS were last week left stunned after a last minute goal saw them go down 2-1 at home to Bedford in the BUSA competition, writes Rob Devey.
A Bedford player's speculative thirty yard effort deflected off one of his own players and flew into the back of the net, leaving Blues keeper Tom Casarella wrong-footed.
It was cruel luck on an Oxford side who had matched their highly-rated opponents for most of the game.
Captain Steve Rishworth stuck with the same team which had beaten Nottingham 4-2 in the previous BUSA match, again having to do without injured striker Andy Durnford.
After a slow start, the Blues fell behind, but had levelled by half-time, Deji Davies scoring from the spot after Thierry Richards had been felled in the box. Other than a final fifteen minutes in which they sat back a little too much, Oxford played some decent football, and were well worth a point.
Rishworth was pleased with the overall performance if not the result, and with three teams qualifying for the knock-out stages, remains confident the Blues can still go through.
"I thought we played really well, and once we had settled into the game it was end to end stuff," he said.
"We knew Loughborough and Bedford would be the strongest teams, but if we can beat the other sides in the group we should be okay," he added.
9th Nov 2000