I boarded my flight in San Francisco 13 hours prior to kick off, unsure whether I would make the match on the other side of the world. 10 and a half hours later, severely jet lagged, I was in Heathrow Terminal 3 certain I would make kick off. Border Control however, had other ideas, the queue set me back half an hour.
I ended up taking my seat in the North Stand two minutes before the game started! Every second counted in the rush from Heathrow Airport.
There were fresh injury concerns for Oxford going into today's fixture with Luton. Dependable wingers Callum O'Dowda and Alex MacDonald had both fallen ill with tonsilitis prior to kick off, an almighty blow for the Yellows at this crucial time of the season.
John Lundstram was back in the starting XI after his sending off vs Stevenage, and Jordan Evans retained his place at left-back with the continued absence of Joe Skarz. The full-back combination of Evans and Jonjoe Kenny must be the youngest in Oxford's history - 20 and 19 respectively.
The U's came into today's game with confidence after a 5-1 away win to Crawley Town, whilst Luton bumbled around in midtable obscurity after their 1-0 midweek win relegated Dagenham & Redbridge.
Today's game was to be crucial - the result should be no less than a win. Accrington Stanley, Bristol Rovers and Plymouth Argyle are all in hot pursuit of the automatic promotion spots; we have to keep the gap between us and them going into the finale of the season.
The tiredness I had been feeling soon went away as the game got underway, mainly because Danny Hylton opened the scoring after three minutes. A lovely through ball by Kemar Roofe down the middle was latched onto by the ever-willing Hylton, who took the ball in his stride and shot low across the keeper to give Oxford the dream start.
The goal was just what we wanted. With Lundstram back in the squad, it was hoped we could go on and control the game in midfield.
For the remainder of the first half the game was flat. Oxford's 6'7" striker, George Waring offered next to nothing up front, he failed to use his height to our advantage. Although, in his defence, the service from widemen Roofe and Chris Maguire was fairly non-existent; the two players favouring cutting inside rather than a whipped ball into the middle. Both were naturally used to playing in the centre, but with MacDonald and O'Dowda's absence they were forced out wide.
Luton created little, but a minute before half-time they were level. Joe Pigott got his first goal for the club since his loan move in January after some laughable defending. An awkward back-pass from Kenny was not controlled well by Benji Buchel, who then proceeded to slip and gift the ball to Danny Green. The winger then simply passed across goal for Joe Pigott to tap into the empty net. No, I'm not joking, that actually happened.
The goal highlighted our need for a new goalkeeper, with both Buchel and Sam Slocombe making mistakes far too often this season.
Two minutes into the alotted three minutes added on Luton were somehow in front. When I say somehow, I mean somehow. The defending again was shocking. Oxford dallied on the ball, passing it amongst themselves instead of kicking long to Waring. A pass was intercepted, crossed into the middle and Olly Lee was there to volley emphatically into the top corner. It was a good finish to be fair, but the chance should have never been presented to him.
As the whistle blew to end the first 45 I was in a state of disarray, I could not believe that we had made those sloppy, unprofessional errors at such a crucial time in the season.
Oxford had scored early in the second half often this season. Today was no exception, Chey Dunkley powered a header into the top corner from a Maguire free kick after ten minutes of play to the delight of the 7,000 Oxford fans. Dunkley is becoming a weapon from set pieces for the Yellows, a weapon we haven't had for many seasons gone. Jake Wright, our centre half for about six years now is yet to score for us.
Five minutes later Waring was presented with a glorious opportunity to put us in front. He was running forward with the ball with only one defender in front, Roofe provided a fantastic overlap which only required an easy through ball for him to shoot past the keeper. Waring's through ball though was too heavy though and went out unharmfully for a goal kick despite the best efforts of Roofe. So frustrating.
Within the next phase of play Luton were ahead. Some neat football lead to a chipped ball over our defence, everyone seemed to stop, assuming the flag would go up for offside. There was no flag, so unmarked, in the centre of our penalty area, Pigott slotted past Buchel.
The goal was greeted by some boo's amongst the home support. I myself just put my head in my hands and felt extremely tired with this promotion push and the fact I hadn't slept in 25 hours.
For the remainder of the game, it was much as we've experienced before. Luton began time wasting at every throw-in, goal kick and corner.
We created chances though, most notably James Roberts hit the post after his introduction off the bench. If he had scored that it would have been one of my personal highlights of the season, the youngster has had a year of hell for personal reasons. It was a fine tip from the keeper onto the post to deny him.
And that was that. You get the feeling that if Buchel hadn't slipped at the end of the first half, the game would have been completely different. Although it must be said too many players were below par today including our full backs. We missed the presence of Skarz at left-back.
Lundstram was off the pace today, he looked like a player lacking match fitness and he didn't control the game like we knew he was so capable of doing. As for Waring, it was probably his worst performance of the season.
I remember going to a fans forum at the start of the season. There, Michael Appleton said it would take something 'drastic' for us not to get automatic promotion this season. Well, it all looks fairly gloomy right now, results hadn't gone our way either. Although our fate thankfully still rests in our own hands, the pack behind are chasing rapidly.
-Michael
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