AWAY THE GAS
By Darren Stobbs
We left The Memorial Stadium just before 11.00am on a minibus, organised by the Supporters Club, and driven by fellow away travel organiser Martin Hudd and following a busy journey to the Kassam Stadium we arrived at 12:45pm.
As many Gasheads will know, there very few places to obtain a pre-match drink near the stadium and the favourable location is the bowling/arcade complex across the car park. Many of you may remember the old pub just on the edge of the complex, which has now been shut for a number of years.
A matchday programme was on offer, covering three pre-season friendlies that Oxford have this week, including this match against Rovers.
Oxford are looking to move to a new ground in the not so distant future and their lease at the Kassam has just been extended until June 2027. It has been agreed, by all parties that the lease won’t be extended beyond that, so this might well be the last time we play at the ground, which has seen us win many encounters in recent years.
As we took our seats before the match, the atmosphere was very flat amongst a decent turnout of Rovers fans in the away end, possibly due to the fact that there were strong rumours circulating regarding the possibility of us losing key players in the transfer window. The fact that those players weren’t included in the squad simply seemed to add credence to those rumours.
Oxford controlled the first half well and enjoyed a great deal of possession, though they failed to carve out any decent opportunities. It was very much a battling display by both teams, with the competitive nature of the game threatening to boil over on a couple of occasions.
The second half followed a similar pattern, but Rovers did look a threat on a number of occasions without threatening the Oxford goal.
Nevertheless, it was Rovers who broke the deadlock and when the ball broke to Micah Anthony out on the right, he drove an angled shot low into the net.
That prompted a rendition of ‘We always win at Oxford’ from the travelling Gasheads, though our lead was preserved by Brad Young, who pulled off a great save late on from a high curling shot by former Rovers loanee Gatlin O’Donkor.
Ellison was my Man of the Match; he looked very strong at the back, though he did seem to be carrying a knock late on in the game.
We arrived back in Bristol at 6:45pm, taking a slightly different, but easier, journey back home.
