LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF FINAL The build up After the semi-final I was emotionally drained but clearly in a good way. I was pleased to have a whole week to recover. My approach was to try not to think too much about what was coming. Just relax and get my head ready to, as they say,  [ more ]

LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL SECOND LEG The build up It was inevitable that the nerves would kick in again before the re-match but it took a little longer for them to overwhelm me than I had thought. When they did come mid-morning of the match day they were even more forceful than the previous dose.  [ more ]

LEAGUE ONE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG PORTSMOUTH 1 OXFORD UNITED 1 It’s very much a case of as we were. There’s still nothing to separate us from Pompey. The frozen league table shows that we’re only goal difference apart. We drew 1-1 in the standard fixture back in November as we did here. I will  [ more ]

INTO THE UNKNOWN I’ll start by saying I’m not quite sure what I’m going to write here but with two games against Pompey rapidly approaching I thought it was about time I bashed the keyboard again with Oxford United Football Club in mind. It’s possible a lot of what I’ll say is just stating the  [ more ]

SHREWSBURY TOWN 2 OXFORD UNITED 3 Fans stood on safe terracing at the back of  the home end Many businesses in the area had been badly hit by the recent floods when the Severn burst its banks and I strongly suspect that if STFC were still located at Gay Meadow in the town centre we  [ more ]

OXFORD UNITED 2 SOUTHEND UNITED 1 Watford 3 Liverpool 0 yells loud and clear that nothing can be taken for granted in football. A coupon buster if ever there was one. The best odds I could find on an Oxford win against the Shrimpers was 2/7. A Southend supporting mate had a tenner on them  [ more ]

ACCRINGTON AT HOME Following our wins against Wimbledon and Ipswich which have seen much improved showings on most of what we had produced in the league in 2020 I got thinking about what could stop us making the play-offs. What are the risks and challenges? Obviously it could be that there are genuinely six teams  [ more ]

IPSWICH AWAY The good old bad old days After the previous FV a minor debate broke out concerning “must win” games. Which are and are not. This got me thinking that in the old days these sort of topics would have led to an entire article in the hard copy fanzine. This prompted memories to  [ more ]

OXFORD UNITED 5 AFC WIMBLEDON 0 “This is a must win game” is a tiresome football cliché. Some fans often spout this nonsense when with a little thought would clearly see the next match is no such thing. Last game of the season with your team occupying the final relegation place one point behind your  [ more ]

SUNDERLAND AT HOME The visitors are up for sale It was only back in May 2018 that Stuart Donald with his “business partner” Charlie Methven and some backing from Juan Sartori took over Sunderland AFC. There were a number of Oxford fans who were critical of Darryl Eales for not selling OUFC to this lot  [ more ]