Oxford 2-2 Swansea City – It gets worse as Swans pay the penalty

Russell Martin may be feeling ever so slightly less comfortable in his job this evening after Oxford United came back from 2-0 down to knock the Swans out in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

All seemed to be going to plan when Jay Fulton opened the scoring before Liam Cullen finished when through down the left but with 18 minutes left Steven Benda handed Oxford a lifeline.

He hit Alex Gorrin from close range when attempting to clear which allowed Karl Robinson’s team back into the game – a comeback they completed thanks to Cameron Brannigan’s deflected free kick in the third minute of injury time.

Embarrassing.

Wholesale changes were made by both sides with the focus on their respective leagues. Only Harry Darling, Jay Fulton, Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere remained. In terms of the incomings, it’s a bit difficult to work out who played where with so many defensive players in the line-up. I’ll give it a shot anyway.

Benda

Latibeaudiere – Cabango – Darling

Ogbeta – Fulton – Cooper – Manning

Cooper – Cullen – Congreve

Oxford started reasonably well although it’s easy to forget that their team was largely made up for back-up and reserve players for context but it was the visitors who took an early lead.

The Swans won a free kick on the edge of the box and Fulton stepped up to side foot a delightful effort past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0 to continue the revival of his career at the club after being largely frozen out last season.

There were clearly a few signs of rustiness as the Swans team was made up of so many younger players that have played little in the white colours and Oxford sensed an opportunity to cause a minor upset.

It didn’t seem on the cards when Ogbeta – making a surprise start after being pushed out by Martin since signing from Shrewsbury in January – bundled through a challenge to release the ball to Cullen who fired home clinically for 2-0.

That all seemed to be relieving the pressure that had grown on both Martin and the Swans and surely it would be a case of seeing the game out and in to round 2 of a cup that let’s not forget, we have previously won.

But things are never that straight forward and whilst all the blame can’t be pointed at the manager, he certainly didn’t help himself yet again tonight.

After four substitutions were made, Ntcham, Joe Allen (welcome back), Abdulai and Wood all came on for Darling, Latibeaudiere, Fulton and Manning control of the game seemed to drift away.

That was encapsulated by Abdulai’s pass to Benda which put him in all sorts of trouble and when the clearance was attempted, Gorrin blocked and it bounced into the net. You couldn’t make it up.

And just as stoppage time was almost up, a free kick was conceded right on the edge of the box which allowed Brannigan to step up and the pure power of his shot invited a deflection which wrongfooted Benda and gave Oxford an unlikely equaliser.

Then again judging by Swansea’s form for a while, it was entirely likely.

And of course as it’s the Carabao Cup level at full time equals penalty shoot out, which inevitably saw the Swans miss out with Matty Sorinola missing the crucial spot kick.

Oxford went through 5-3 in the shoot out and the pressure is ramped up all the more on a beleaguered looking team (just over a week into the season) and a manager seemingly unaware of what to do next.

It’s all looking a bit bleak.

MATCH FACTS AND LINE UPS

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