Create your own luck

What a disappointing week, after the highs of Peterborough and the progress made after Christmas with only two defeats since Boxing Day – one of those being the FA Cup exit against Manchester United.

We were poor in the first half against Exeter but up until their opening goal we looked as though we could run away with it as we had at Peterborough the week previous.

Unfortunately that goal, as a result of a wicked deflection knocked the stuffing out of us.

Worse was to come in the second half as well further behind, to you guessed it another bad deflection. Credit to the lads they fought to get back in to game and probably should have earned a point.

Charlie Kelman’s opening goal was well taken and despite the criticism from some quarters when he signed he looks an exciting player.

Oxford offered an opportunity to get back to winning ways and once again one Latics looked like taking, especially when we went ahead in the first half. Charlie Kelman once again involved in the goal, providing an assist for Jordan Jones.

A goal in the fourth minute of injury time for Oxford once again led to heads dropping and in truth we never really recovered.

Conceding three poor goals in the second half, with another two of those being the result of deflections.

I’m unsure if the introductions of Charlie Goode and to a lesser extend Luke Chambers have changed things from a defensive point of view.

I’d be interested to know why Liam Morrison has missed out recently as his partnership with Charlie Hughes seemed to be one of the big positives this season. Goode is clearly a good (see what I did there) player but I think his introduction has upset the balance of the defence.

Part of football is luck and in the last two games we’ve had none of it, but also they say you create your own luck and we’ve been no where near good enough to create our own.

But this is to be expected, without the deduction (yes I know we can’t change it) we would be in tenth place, slap bang in the middle.

That represents the midtable finish we all supposedly craved at the start of the season.

There’s clearly a lot to work on and with a run of winnable fixtures coming up I’m hoping the lads can get back on track soon preferably with a big away following heading down to Shrewsbury on Saturday.

It’s going to be different from the last time we headed down to Shropshire but I’m sure a win for Maloney and co will help to make it an enjoyable trip.

A word to the club by the way who’ve had a number of knocks and criticisms this season our son James celebrated his birthday last weekend and was one of the mascots on Saturday against Exeter and the whole experience was top notch.

Lots of hardworking staff in various areas of the club trying to make everyone’s experience as good as it could possibly be. We as a fanbase are quick to knock the club when things aren’t right so it’s only fair we praise them when they do get it right.

Same goes for the Cheltenham tickets launched this week. £15 for adults and £10 for young adults and senior citizens is fantastic value, not to mention £1 a kids during half-term.

It’s a shame it’s not a Saturday night match but we’ve had success under the lights this season so let’s hope a Friday under the lights can get a few more hooked.

Sean Livesey

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