Gary Rowett: ‘Probably the harshest I've been with the players'

Yahoo

12-03-2025

GARY Rowett admitted he was the harshest he has been with his Oxford United players after watching them throw away a lead inside 10 minutes at Hull City.
United nudged in front with 66 minutes on the clock, when Michal Helik crashed in a first-time volley from a Matt Phillips corner, however the U's found themselves behind just 10 minutes later.
Both goals conceded were sloppy, as Joe Gelhardt managed to find a way through a gap in the United defence to then apply the finish seven minutes after taking the lead, before an even more frustrating goal was conceded in the 76th minute.
Gustavo Puerta squeezed the ball inside Jamie Cumming at the near post from the left-hand byline, with the deflection off Cumming seeing the goalkeeper awarded an own goal.
U's head coach Rowett said: 'I'm really angry if I'm being honest. Quite frankly, we've thrown the game away. That's how it feels.
'It feels like a game of huge importance for us. It felt like an incredible opportunity at 1-0 to go and win the game.
'It took a lot of hard work to get there. I don't think we necessarily started as well as we wanted.
'I thought we were a little bit passive early on in the game, but I thought we grew into the game, and to go 1-0 up, I felt we got ourselves into a really good position.
'When you do that, you've got to protect the goal and the lead with your life. Earlier on in my tenure, we were doing that, and we just allowed two very soft goals.
'Unfortunately, if you're going to play with that naivety in the Championship, then you're going to make it a very difficult end to the season.'
Rowett added: 'When you get in front, you've got to try and defend really well. The first goal, they just walk through the middle of the pitch. It was really disappointing to get into those positions.
'The second goal of course they shouldn't be able to wriggle through wide, and then they shouldn't be able to score from that angle.
'When you see those goals go in, they're so deflating on the sideline because there's literally absolutely nothing you can do about those moments.
'I'm just frustrated with the players. I think we've gone from a position of winning games and seeing those moments out, and looking very solid, to just feeling like we've got more to give, and I'm not quite sure why.
'That's probably the harshest I've been with the players in the dressing room, and it really does feel as though we've thrown something away.'