A moment of madness at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday as Shrewsbury Town produce an embarrassing howler to gift Oxford United a third goal.
Shrewsbury goalkeeper Marko Marosi got caught in possession after attempting to play out from their defence and gave the U’s Greg Leigh an opportunity to lob him.
Leigh rounded off a comfortable 3-0 victory in the 96th minute, putting the ball into an unguarded net from the left touchline after Marosi lost the ball.
Oxford spent much of the night at the top of the League One table, but dropped to second after Portsmouth scored a winner at home to Wycombe in the 98th minute to go point clear.
What on earth #OUFC pic.twitter.com/So55D395qf
— Hamish (@hraarmstrong) October 3, 2023
Where was the keeper going? 😳🚶
One to forget for Marko Marosi 🤦 pic.twitter.com/bMad6nOfYo
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 4, 2023
The hosts broke the deadlock on 17 minutes when Greg Leigh’s excellent delivery was met superbly at the back post by Fin Stevens who volleyed into the roof of the net.
With just over half an hour to play, Shrewsbury were reduced to 10 men early with Joe Anderson handed a red for two yellow cards, having brought down Stevens for a second time in quick succession.
Straight after Cam Brannagan sent a free kick into the box and Ciaron Brown improvised to flick the ball into the back of the net and double the lead.
Then came the howler, Marosi coming a long way out his box and only found Leigh who curled the ball into the net from 30 yards out.
Oxford: James Beadle, Sam Long, Ciaron Brown, Elliott Moore, Cameron Brannagan, Billy Bodin (Tyler Goodrham 45’), Fin Stevens, Mark Harris (Gatlin O’Donkor 73’), Ruben Rodrigues (Josh McEachcran 67’), Greg Leigh, Marcus McGuane
Unused Substitutes: Simon Eastwood, Jordan Thorniley, Josh Murphy, Stan Mills
Shrewsbury: Marko Marosi, Joe Anderson, Morgan Feeney, Chey Dunkley, Tom Flanagan, Carl Winchester (Taylor Perry 61’), Elliott Bennett (Brandon Fleming 61’), Nohan Kenneh (Tunmise Sobowale (84’), Tom Bayliss, Ryan Bowman (Dan Udoh 61’), Kieran Phillips (Max Mata 61’)
Unused Substitutes: Harry Burgoyne, Mal Benning
Referee: Charles Breakspear
First-time finish from @finstevens1 💥
🟡🔵 #OUFC | @TrippHearing pic.twitter.com/Kwu344KGIc
— Oxford United FC (@OUFCOfficial) October 4, 2023
Oxford manager Liam Manning said, as per Oxford Mail: “It was another experience for the team. We’ve had some games, Port Vale jumps to mind, where we’ve had a lot of the ball and dominated for large periods, but we’ve found a way to win tonight.
“I’m delighted for the players. You’ve really seen progress out of possession and we’re continually improving with the ball, which is important.
“It’s another experience ticked off in finding a way to win when we’re dominating and against 10 men as well.
“I thought it was a really professional performance where we restricted them to very little, and arguably we could’ve scored more.
“It’s hard to sleep after games so I’ll probably go back and watch the game again. All our energy then goes into Saturday.
“It’s a nice feeling to win, but it’s a real marathon.
“I actually thought we did it [kept the ball] slightly better against 11 men in the first half, to be totally honest.
“I thought we had more control. Sometimes the perception is that you should easily win when the opposition goes down to 10 men, which is never the case.
“They change what they’re doing a little bit. Sometimes it makes them stick together and come closer together, and fight harder.
“That’s why its’s another new experience for the team tonight – how do we manage the game against 10 men?
“The spread of goals again from different people and different positions is going to be important for us over the course of the season, that everybody chips in and plays their part.”
Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor: “It’s always going to be tough when you make errors.
“I think for large periods of the game we were – out of possession – in control. But we made three errors tonight and we got punished.
“The first goal was an error, the second one was an error in terms of the sending off and not getting the free-kick right and the third goal was another error, so you get punished and that’s what happened tonight.
“We had a couple of moments where we looked good on the ball, mainly in the second half.
“In the first half, we turned over the ball too much and we worked extremely hard to get it back.
“But that first pass, that first touch wasn’t good enough.
“We can’t come away from home against anyone in this league and make errors, errors which are uncharacteristic for this group of players. They haven’t done that before.
“It’s important now that everyone regroups. There’s been conversations that we’ve just had in the dressing room and the players are understandably disappointed.
“I’m extremely annoyed because – bar those errors – I think Marko had one shot from a counter attack to save.
“That’s the reason we lost the game today because we made errors and we got punished.
“When you make errors against good teams – and Oxford are a good team – ultimately you run the risk of conceding goals.”
This is how fans reacted to the moment of madness as Shrewsbury produce an embarrassing howler to gift Oxford a third goal…
@_pusbalfie: Marosi got bored ffs 😂😂
@Peter_Mahoney_: What a boy Greg is 💙
@jakehodgsonn51: That is some finish though 🤣 to get it perfect from there
@denooneo23: That Greg Leigh he does what he wants!
@heyit5sam: Doing his own goal of the month competition 😂
@18Dapper: Marosi having a worldie here.
@oufc_adam: Shrewsbury keeper thinks he’s playing fifa
@AlexLewis_DJ: This is as bad as I’ve ever seen. The players want the manager gone, the fans want the manager, DOF and chairman gone yet the chairman will be sat there thinking everything’s fine
@jack64245959: Great finish, but big props to O’Donkor for not letting the goalie get away with playing about with it. Shooting opportunity wouldn’t have even been there without his hassling #oufc
@AnalyticsOxford: Not sure I’ve giggled at a goal before
@MichaelGeal94: Probably the worst play I’ve ever seen! Get the ball out and ducking start again? That’s fucking poo
@evinh111: That might be the worst 30 seconds of football I’ve ever seen in my life.
@fluffmitten: I still don’t understand what the goalkeeper was trying to achieve here 😂 YOU’RE NOT MANUEL NEUER, YOU’RE PLAYING FOR SHREWSBURY MY FRIEND
@EmmaSavage12405: What a goal to end the game #oufc
You must be logged in to post a comment Login