Oxford United 5 (Craddock 12, 23, 36 & 71, Potter 78) Accrington Stanley 0

4:51pm Saturday 20th October 2012 in Sport Photograph of the Author By David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

 TOM Craddock scored four times as Oxford United put Accrington Stanley to the sword in a one-sided encounter.

The striker netted a first-half hat-trick to put the U's firmly in charge before adding another goal after the break.

Alfie Potter completed the scoring 12 minutes from time to give United a much-needed confidence boost after a poor run.

U's boss Chris Wilder made five changes to the side which lost 3-0 at Port Vale on Monday.

Only one was enforced, with Michael Raynes replacing the suspended Jake Wright.

Andy Whing, Lee Cox, Tony Capaldi and Alfie Potter also started, while Jon-Paul Pittman and Peter Leven were fit enough to make the bench.

The home side had lost seven of their previous nine league games, but did not look like a side low in confidence.

The tone was set in the fourth minute, when Craddock chased a lost cause and charged down goalkeeper Ian Dunbavin's clearance.

It began a 30-minute spell in which Stanley barely got out of their half, as United dominated.

Craddock had already had one effort saved by Dunbavin by the time he opened the scoring on 12 minutes.

Cox's ball into the box was headed on by Raynes and James Constable set up his strike partner to drive a shot in from ten yards.

The front two combined superbly and Constable should have made it 2-0 with the next clear chance, but Dunbavin blocked his left-footed volley from close range.

Craddock's second goal arrived shortly afterwards, when he took advantage of some more poor defending.

The visiting back four left a ball over the top for Dunbavin, but the United striker got to there first and after taking an age to pull the trigger his shot snuck in at the near post.

United saved their best move for the third goal, in the 36th minute.

A smart move down the left released Capaldi on the overlap and his low cross caused chaos in the Stanley defence. Constable was again thwarted by Dunbavin, but Craddock was on hand to despatch the rebound high into the net.

It completed the first hat-trick for United since Jack Midson's haul at Torquay United in January 2011.

Stanley's only serious effort on goal before the break came two minutes later, when Lee Molyneux's powerful shot was tipped on to the post by Ryan Clarke.

The visitors threatened to make a game of it after the restart.

Top scorer Padraig Amond was twice denied by Clarke in quick succession to preserve his clean sheet.

Craddock had a glorious chance to score his fourth of the afternoon on 54 minutes. The striker ran on to a fantastic through ball from Cox, but hesitated and allowed Rob Atkinson to make a tackle.

United played within themselves for long spells in the second half but it was still more than enough to stay on top.

With 19 minutes remaining they extended the lead with another goal from Craddock.

This time he owed everything to Constable, who dribbled past his marker and unselfishly set up the man of the match to roll a shot past a flat-footed Dunbavin.

Potter got in on the act seven minutes later, converting a Leven cross for his fifth goal of the season.

The final stages were processional, with United content to run down the clock and savour a job well done.

United: Clarke, Whing (Chapman 81), Raynes, Mullins, Capaldi (O'Brien ht) Potter, Cox, Forster-Caskey (Leven 69), Rigg, Constable, Craddock.

Unused subs: Heslop, Pittman, Brown, Worley.

Accrington: Dunbavin, Winnard, Atkinson, Molyneux (Liddle 67), Lindfield (Dixon 55), Schofield (Murphy 55), Joyce, Mingoia, Boco, Sampson, Amond.

Unused subs: Dawber, Miller, Hatfield, Whichelow.

Referee: Darren Deadman.

Attendance: 5,403 (96 visitors).

Comments(24)

Joe1 says...
5:32pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Yesterday I asked for goals & boy oh boy did we get them, at last an emphatic home win. Long may it continue.

"COME ON YOU YELLOWS"

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AylesburyOx says...
5:39pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Well, well, well. Football; funny ol'game. We were immense today. Well done to all at the club. Even a massive cynic like me can't find anything to complain about after such an emphatic victory!

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oxincanada says...
6:51pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I follow the Yellows religiously on-line and on the radio every game, from Canada. I grew up there and followed the team at the Manor and, when I visit, at the Kassam. I find it strange that when the team isn't playing that well there are so many negative comments posted here and yet when they win, as they did today, there are only a couple of positive posts.
What a wonderful performance today, let's celebrate the positives.
C'mon you loyal supporters. COYY
I'll be there in December and January and will be watching every game...lt' all get behind Chris and the lads.

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oldun says...
7:21pm Sat 20 Oct 12

442 - obvious innit - no Heslop helps. Gotta get up to 3rd place - three wins in next 4 League matches will help

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greengarden says...
7:27pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Well done Oxford Utd - great result !!

So where are the anti Wilder brigade - they've very quick all week to slag him off, some saying they will not go to any more games, demanding mgmt changes because they know best.....

How about just getting behind your club and congratulating the team & mgmt for a great result in difficult times.

We are only 3 pts off the plays offs and 6pts away from the automatic promo places. COYS you can do it, !!!!

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oldun says...
7:30pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I am not a big fan of CW - he has done OK since we got back into the League. 442 should have been used ages ago. If we are in this decision next season it must be with a new manager - CW will have failed

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sean630 says...
7:50pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Excellent performance today - patches of genuinely top quality, promotion standard football. Accrington were totally hapless, but full credit to the lads- Constable, Potter and Craddock ran havoc in their back four. Great to see Leven getting back to fitness - his ball for the fifth goal was pure class. Hopefully this gives us a good platform to build upon, and with players coming back from injury, a chance of a good solid run in the league

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northampton yellow says...
7:51pm Sat 20 Oct 12

yes the boys did verywell today and enjoyed everyminute of it for a change for me i have to agree that if we dont get out of this league this season then the change has to happen ,but hay can we go to rochdale tuesday playing this way but hopefully we can start having a settled side for first time this season and hopefully climb the league 4points is amust from rochdale, and wycombe "UP THE YELLOWS"

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RADIOFAN says...
8:39pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Great perforance today lads. Also well done to Chris Wilder. Not only did he get the team selection right. He also sent them out with the right attitude and attacked with purpose. I just hope today doesnt prove to a one off with us going back to type tuesday night at Rochdale. They have set a standard now and i hope they can stick to it for the rest of the season. Then even i might rejoin the Wilder fan club again.

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hawkeye1 says...
8:50pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Oxford United..........what the F--- happened

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BigAlBiker says...
8:59pm Sat 20 Oct 12

hawkeye1 wrote:
Oxford United..........what the F--- happened
We won that's what happened.

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Doctor69 says...
10:17pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Great win today. Fair play.
I still belong to the wilder out camp, but if he can get the team playing well I'm happy to be proven wrong.

The team going forward looked a lot better, we were so much more committed across the whole team.....whing and cox maybe helped there. Best I have seen of beano in a year.....cradock 4 goals and could have had and created more.

Defence still looked shaky at times and were still prone to stand off rather than make the tackle.

Finally it shouldn't be ignored that Stanley were a poor outfit, but, you can only beat what's there in front of you and the team certingly did so today. A great result and performance. Well done lads.

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35 year fan says...
10:54pm Sat 20 Oct 12

brilliant result and no-one will be happier than me if we can follow this up with some more decent results and push on into the top half of the table.

oxincanada - we still have two wins one draw and seven defeats from the last ten games, and a lot of those defeats were comprehensive. i dont think you should be too surprised that the fans arent dancing in the streets just yet. players and management still have plenty more to prove.fingers crossed they are big enough to do it.

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adlibber says...
2:50am Sun 21 Oct 12

Greengarden - the 'anti Wilder' brigade is still here and I'm happy to be one of them mainly because I'm not getting over excited because we've made it two wins in 10 games.

Having said that it was a decent win against a team that will struggle to stay in the league. Great to finally see goals and like everyone else I hope this is the start of a long winning run. I'm still not convinced by Wilder after last seasons abysmal collapse but I'm more than happy to be proved wrong by promotion this season - anything less is a failure.

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Chish and Fips says...
7:41am Sun 21 Oct 12

A good win that will probably cause more confusion than elation..

Have a good week you lot.

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oldun says...
7:43am Sun 21 Oct 12

One swallow ... . Our league position is awful. Minimum of 4 points from next two games is required. Changes are needed!

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jbowling says...
10:41am Sun 21 Oct 12

It was as if he knew it was his last throw of the dice so he chose an attacking formation (at last), made Beano captain (good motivation) and didn't go defensive after going two up.

A desperate last ditch change of tactics like when he throws five forwards on in the second half.

Great result but will he learn ?

No chance - we could win the next few and get in a challenging position and he will go all negative again.

A great win today but not convinced the leopard will change his spots.

Worse case is another near miss season and we give him more time ...... again

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oldun says...
10:46am Sun 21 Oct 12

Yep - he is naturally negative . He needs to change or we will miss out again. 442 was the obvious move last season and this . Last throw of the dice - yes. Great result - poor opposition. Come on YY

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The Manager says...
3:56pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Yesterday one cannot help feeling that Wilder bowed down to fan pressure. He knew this was the last chance saloon and for all you Wilder fans yes this was a great result but we should have been seeing results before this time last season. How many times have we played with only one striker up front on his own, so now we have to move on but when we the next six or seven games without defeat then perhaps we will all be able to start thinking happier times are on the way but I think Wilder could be gone by Christmas if not then the end of the season. Promotion has to be a must and if it doesn't happen Wilder will be on his way.

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oldun says...
4:19pm Sun 21 Oct 12

The Manager wrote:
Yesterday one cannot help feeling that Wilder bowed down to fan pressure. He knew this was the last chance saloon and for all you Wilder fans yes this was a great result but we should have been seeing results before this time last season. How many times have we played with only one striker up front on his own, so now we have to move on but when we the next six or seven games without defeat then perhaps we will all be able to start thinking happier times are on the way but I think Wilder could be gone by Christmas if not then the end of the season. Promotion has to be a must and if it doesn't happen Wilder will be on his way.
spot on - word perfect - thank you

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BigAlBiker says...
6:20pm Sun 21 Oct 12

oldun wrote:
The Manager wrote:
Yesterday one cannot help feeling that Wilder bowed down to fan pressure. He knew this was the last chance saloon and for all you Wilder fans yes this was a great result but we should have been seeing results before this time last season. How many times have we played with only one striker up front on his own, so now we have to move on but when we the next six or seven games without defeat then perhaps we will all be able to start thinking happier times are on the way but I think Wilder could be gone by Christmas if not then the end of the season. Promotion has to be a must and if it doesn't happen Wilder will be on his way.
spot on - word perfect - thank you
Agreed, end of season if we're not up then its P45 for CW.

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mandate says...
8:00pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Great result today, but let's be honest, this is a useless league. Even though we have suffered 7 defeats in the last 9 league games, we are only 3 points out of the play-off places. There are only 2 teams, Gillingham and Port Vale who even look half decent. If Oxford don't go up this season, then we really are a hopeless cause.

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Carfax Cabby says...
9:07pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Maybe CW took the slating he got after Vale on board, and will change the tactics, drop his under performing favourites, and put the better players he dislikes back in. We can look to the next month to see if it really happens, if he thinks that one game against a relegation team will justify his performance over the last seven then we are back where we started, if he is big enough to admit he was wrong and keeps on with the changes, then we might see league 1 (div 3) next year.

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Grandpont Tom says...
4:31pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Credit where it is due. Well done team, manager and fans. I thought Mr. Wilder's time was up, but I will happy that everyone had a good day on Saturday.
This seems a strange division. Two at the top, 3 at the bottom and the other 19 scrapping amongst themselves.
The good news is that Oxford can move up quite quickly with a couple of wins and at the moment the bottom seems to be spoken for, so there is no real reason for safety first. Go for it and see what happens

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