Oxford United picked up a point in difficult circumstances on Saturday with a draw against Shrewsbury Town at the Kassam Stadium
“It was a really interesting game” captain John Mousinho told iFollow. “Shrewsbury came with a good formation and good intent for the first 15 minutes and we struggled to deal with it and they had a couple of chances. But then once we got to grips with that and started to keep the ball a bit better we controlled the game a bit more without creating too many chances ourselves. But then for the second half I thought we dominated a lot of the game.
“I can’t think of too many saves that Jordan had to make; he had to tidy up a couple of times maybe. We had a couple of good chances, nothing gilt-edged I don’t think, although their defender made a terrific block on the line at the end from Tariqe. So over all it was very pleasing to come through all of the adversity before and during the game.”
The injuries are mounting up for the U’s but Mousinho knows that this is the stage of the season when everyone has to step up:
“We have a very strong squad and we have had to use it. Today we were probably the most depleted we have been with Alex suspended and then we pick up two injuries in the game with James Henry and Anthony Forde. So we have quite a few on the physio beds. A couple are almost ready to come back in Shandon and Cameron Brannagan, but the number we have out is comical really. But all teams have a lot of injuries, all ours have just come at the wrong time.”
The captain led by example by playing in at least three different roles during the 90 minutes:
“I have done that all of my career and am happy slotting in where asked” he said “but what’s probably more pleasing is to see the lads who came in, Elliott Moore for example was excellent on the left side, Longy came on and did well so we have players who can come in to the side. Today, unfortunately we couldn’t quite nick the win but all things considered it was a good point.”
See the full interview plus Highlights of the game in iFollow: a subscription makes a great Christmas Present…