Oxford tonight

[comrade powell]

Disappointing result, losing to two goals from free kicks, the second a real peach right at the end. We had a goal ruled out for offside and went close on a couple of other occasions but can’t argue with the result.

Excellent stream provided by Oxford.

[2weirdtown]

Oxford looked a good side. Pressed relentlessly. City weren't bad but lacked midfield spark, Tom Smith a bit quiet.
Yes, very good streaming.

[pete mac]

We looked like we were still in pre-season. Work in progress

[Steve Whites Missus]

Some shocking passes which were pinched well by Oxford. Need to improve on that and I guess opposition will want to press us on our attack as we seem to play it back to defence.

As a positive it was great to see Jack Batten from the start.

[Dusty Lynfield]

I have to say the stream was very good, and when we have resolved our technical issues from last weekend, I know that our streaming service will be just as good - if not better.
Watching the match last night has made my mind up though that I won't be buying any more away games, based on the commentary....I know by the nature of it, its volunteer led and therefore fans will be doing the commentary, but it just starts getting annoying when there is a lack of research into the opposition by the commentators and they are cheering every goal and "oh no-ing" every time Bath had a chance). I may be biased, but I think BCIR are much more even-handed (maybe just because I am a City fan!).....I tried to listen to the BCIR commentary, whilst having live stream on mute, but by nature of technology they were very out of sync, so just watched match in silence in end.

Re the game, I agree that Oxford looked a lot more energetic....maybe to do with us having to cancel the Torquay game, but I do worry about having Frankie, Ryan Harley and Lloyd James in central mid, they are no spring chickens, despite all the experience they bring.
Hopefully we will put right on Saturday, but I can't help thinking we would have had a very different (and better) squad if the play-offs had not gone ahead last season. Jerry mentioned at the time that it had affected recruitment (as we had to start ours a lot later than other NLS teams, due to not knowing what league we would be in).
Now we have more options at full-back, I wonder if plan will be for Joey Raynes to move into central midfield....we need his energy.

[stillmanjunior]

I could hear bits of the commentary when we had occasional moments of silence. They were sat nearby.

Really nice bloke and said he hadn’t done much football commentary. From what I could hear it’s not the sort I could listen to. Just too shouty for me. Each to their own really, some people love all that but it’s not a style I’ll ever replicate (not deliberately anyway) and none of us on the radio will. All our research paid off filling the gaps of a rather uneventful first half but I have the time to do all that, others don’t. Obviously there’s bias with ours - I had to say through gritted teeth how good the second free kick was - but I think we are well balanced. I had to laugh when he said about how the place would have been rocking after that win. Nothing against Oxford City (quite the opposite, they are a very friendly club and we had no problems setting up etc, bar the poor view) but it’s not the most atmospheric place and I doubt the roof would have come off even at their excellent two finishes.

Slough’s main (only) commentator is very good and fair so I would give him a go if the stream goes ahead next week. With all the cables and tech lying around the main stand I would have been surprised had Oxford’s cut out. They’ve either got a great deal or they’ve splashed out a bit.

On the pitch I think there’s enough about us to do well again this season but without a doubt this is a tougher division than last year. By that showing I expect Oxford to improve as well.

[Peter Newman]

I thought we were second best but not surprising since we were playing against Brazil. Happy to accept bias but had to turn the sound off when a commentator described how great one of their players was for not chasing a lost cause when a ball was running out for goal kick to us.
From the start I kept thinking the commentary was a bit like the "Suits You" sketch from the Fast Show.
Anyway I will be happy if our streaming on Saturday is as least as good as Oxford's.

[comrade powell]

My only problem with the commentators was that they both seemed to be doing the job of summarisers and I’d have liked more mention of the players’ names. Even with the quality of the stream it wasn’t always possible to identify some of our players, especially as we haven’t seen the new ones apart from in photos.

Interesting that Junior says Slough’s bloke does it solo. Older fans will remember this was the norm on tv many years ago and I’ve never warmed to this dual approach. The likes of Steve MacManaman adds absolutely nothing with his wittering and I often watch with the sound off. What I like about the BCIR summarisers is that they allow their partners to describe the action and appear to only speak when there’s a break in play. TMS style!

Re the quality of the streaming by different clubs, I think it might be worthwhile doing some research before paying out for our away matches. Dartford v Slough on Saturday was apparently very poor while Chipp fans are livid about Hungerford’s last night. Sounds like the service was intermittent in the first half and subscribers were cut off completely after the break. Which suggests that Oxford’s might not be bettered - I believe that it has cost a lot and the commentary suggested that sponsorship was making it possible.

[stillmanjunior]

Not recognising who was on the ball surprises me because they had a monitor with what was being filmed and teamsheets. We had no desk Michael and I were clinging onto our notes for dear life, and a whacking pillar right in the way. But I've commentated on 100-odd games and it was their first, so I'll cut some slack.

We try and go by the routine that the commentator describes what has happened, the summariser why it happened. And often one can correct the other, for example I had no idea the keeper saved Conway's low shot but Michael did. It's why I don't like commentating alone, you need a back-up and it breaks up the monotony of me having to describe what and why it happened, when I'm not always right! We are lucky to have a large group on hand, the Slough guy joked that we have more commentators than Dorking have players. I can't stand summarisers speaking almost as much as commentators but would be lost if I had to cover a game alone again, which could happen this season depending on numbers allowed.

[comrade powell]

Thanks, some good insights there. Just don't ever ask me to do it - I'd be hopeless in either role and take my hat off to those who do!

[Steve Whites Missus]

I actually enjoyed their commentary as it allowed me to concentrate on the pictures rather than what they were saying. In other words I zoned out.... although at times I did chuckle as it all seemed a bit Alan Partridge, Radio Norwich.

[comrade powell]

And you got a name check!

[Steve Whites Missus]

And you got a name check!

A bit tacky, but my son loved it. I told him he was going to an away game on a school night.

[stillmanjunior]

Thanks, some good insights there. Just don't ever ask me to do it - I'd be hopeless in either role and take my hat off to those who do!

It's great fun and we all have our own ideas on how it should be done. I personally try and be more professional, I do hours and hours of prep and try to not leave anything to chance. Some might find it too rigid and prefer the more jovial approach, which is fine. The one thing I try to remember is who the audience is - if I know it'll be largely our fans (as I assumed it would be last night because of the stream) I can maybe be a bit more one-sided. If I think it'll be both I even up. And I desperately try and not overly criticize players because I might want to interview them in a week's time or their family could be listening! Dan Bowry's dad said he tuned in a few times last season and enjoyed it.

[LB]

Have to say that I can't fault the BCIR commentary, and I think they clearly do their best not to be too biased towards City and give the opposition credit when it is due.

[2weirdtown]

Yes, agreed and it's something to look forward to when I can't get to matches - which is most of the time!

[Midsomer-chris]

I did not watch the streaming of the Oxford match but I did watch the playoff final and the Winchester matches. If you don't like the commentary on the streamed version do what I did . . . . turn down the volume on the streamed one and open another tab and listen to the BCIR commentary which I always think is excellent. The only problem is when there are problems with the streaming breaking down you end up with what you are seeing and what you are hearing coming adrift from each other (i.e. you hear what is happening minutes before you see it) but I am sure if the streaming is done properly, so it is literally live, that will not be a problem.

[yuffie]

Like a lot of people I could only suffer the Oxford's commentators for about 30 seconds. I then tried BCIR as well but as they were around 30 second ahead I gave up with that and just watched the game in silence, which was fine.

I think we are spoilt the BCIR commentary as it is clear that a massive amount of preparation goes into the coverage. It is also noticeable that they try (and largely succeed) to be balanced in commentary.

To be fair to Oxford the actual stream was absolutely faultless and I didn't suffer a single issue during the whole two hours. In a way I prefer listening to BCIR as it means I can prepare the website as the game goes on ready to update it on the final whistle. This isn't so practical when I need to concentrate on watching the game. Given that I should be able to get to most Saturday away games I will probably carry on getting any midweek games that are streamed.

The only unexpected snag I found was just before HT with the game (apparently) still goalless I checked the other scores in our league only to find we were 1-0 down. It was another minute or so before they conned the ref to win the free-kick and I was very pessimistic they'd score from it! I avoided scorecheck for the rest of the game but suspect that the same issue could happen if anyone has scorecheck, Twitter, etc updates while watching a 'live' stream.

[LB]

I am intrigued by the league table on the website, as where teams have exactly the same record - which obviously happens a lot after only one game - normally alphabetical order decides placings (for what they are worth at this stage).

This hasn't been applied consistently, with the effect that Ebbsfleet should be 2nd not 3rd, Dartford 7th not 9th, Chelmsford 14th not 15th and City 17th not 18th. Is there some new basis for preparing the table that I have missed? And shouldn't the three teams who haven't played strictly be at the bottom?

[Beau Nash]

This table agrees with LB - https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/national-league-south - Yuffers said something about technical problems copying the table from whatever source he uses.

[yuffie]

Yes, I'm really not sure what is going on with the table.

If anyone knows another website which I can use to pull through a table I will change it.

[Luton Roman]

https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/divisions/3/

[yuffie]

Ideally I need a site that has editable code you can add to the website which updates automatically.

Football Web Pages used to until they upgraded.

[LB]

I think FlashScore has caught the bug as well! Billericay and Briantree have identical records - 2 defeats from 2, no goals scored and 4 conceded - but they have placed Braintree 20th and Billericay 21st.

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