Tranmere Rov 2,Oxford Utd 0

By JON MURRAY VIRTUALLY everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for Oxford United at Prenton Park last night as their long winning away sequence in the League Cup was blown to bits.

Matt Murphy missed a penalty, when it was 0-0, Andre Arendse committed a howler by letting the ball slip through his fingers for Tranmere's clinching second goal and then, to cap it all, Paul Tait was sent off.

Frustration got the better of the midfielder who was back in the side after a hip injury. When he was fouled by Alan Mahon with eight minutes to go, he kicked out at the Rovers player and was shown the red card.

Malcolm Shotton did not look at Tait as he marched off down the tunnel and Tait did not glance towards the dug-out either, but he must have known what his manager was thinking.

Having lost Peter Fear to a three-match suspension at the start of the season, this was just what United did not want.

United were also convincingly beaten by John Aldridge's struggling first division outfit, whose forwards Scott Taylor and David Kelly were far too good for their uncomfortable-looking defence. The U's were lucky to go in at the break on level terms after Tranmere several times broke through their defensive ranks.

Shotton brought Phil Whelan back and used Les Robinson as the sweeper with Steve Davis to his right.

But even with the extra man in defence, Oxford's defence looked very ill at ease.

Whelan tried to play Taylor offside in the eighth minute, but got his measurements wrong and Taylor was in, in a flash, to hit a shot on the turn from the right edge of the area which.

It was an identical chance to the one from which Paul Shaw brilliantly scored for Millwall at the Manor last Saturday, but this time Taylor, again hitting the shot with venom, saw it beat Arendse and struck the post, yet this time come back into play.

Arendse, recalled to the goalkeeping duties, showed great alertness to race out and smother at the feet of Taylor when he broke through on the left side of the box.

The match had a scrappy start and United took time to settle, their cause not being helped by a long stoppage after a clash of heads between Joey Beauchamp and Rovers' centre half Steve Yates. Yates had to go off for what looked like stitches, and Tranmere played for eight minutes with ten men. But as soon as he returned, Rovers regained the ascendancy.

Kelly went close with a shot from Alan Mahon's cross before and, after a Beauchamp pass to Tait was intercepted, Tranmere broke very swiftly, sweeping the ball to the other end, for Taylor cut in fron the left and drove in a 20-yard shot which Arendse saved on his knees.

Arendse then made an excellent save with his legs to prevent Mahon's driven-cross from the left reaching Kelly and others in the six-yard box.

It was all United could do to stay level, it seemed, as the game neared the interval when they got a golden chance to snatch the lead.

Beauchamp burst through the middle and would have had a chance to toe-poke the ball past keeper Joe Murphy, but was cynically sandwiched by Clint Hill and Steve Yates.

The ref pointed to the spot and up stepped Matt Murphy, who had converted a penalty on Saturday. But this time Tranmere's teenage keeper Joe Murphy guessed which way he would go and dived to his right to make a splendid save.

Buoyed by the let-off, Tranmere played with renewed zest in the second half and only two more good saves by Arendse kept United in the match.

One push-over save from a 20-yarder by Yates, which he saw at the last second, was magnificent.

But Yates was in the perfect place nine-yards out when Mahon finished off a positive run on the left with a shot which deflected into his path. Yates didn't hit his shot too cleanly, but it ran into the corner of the goal.

Six minutes later, disaster struck for Arendse when he let a 20-yard shot from Tony Grant slip through his fingers and over the line, just like Manchester United's Massimo Taibi against Southampton.

Two goals down, substitute Derek Lilley nearly pulled one back with a strong run past two defenders. He tried to shoot but was closed down, passed to Jamie Cook who was closed down and eventually Beauchamp had a shot but screwed it wide. Matt Murphy was then denied by another great close-range save from his namesake Joe and when Tait was dismissed United's interest in this season's Worthington Cup was effectively over.

It was a nightmare night for Oxford for many reasons but most of all because they had played so poorly. Tranmere play Barnsley in the fourth round.

Story date: Wednesday 13 October

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