On This Day

[OUFC4eva]

25th December 1957 - this was the last Christmas Day that saw a majority of
league and non league games take place.
Southern League U's visited Kidderminster Harriers and won 3-1.

[OUFC4eva]

26th December 1987 - United's biggest ever home Boxing Day attendance
of 13,680 see the U's lose 0-3 to Liverpool for whom John Aldridge
netted the first half opener at the London Road End.

United: Hucker; Bardsley, Hill, Dreyer, Caton; Phillips, Shelton,Hebberd
Rhoades-Brown; Whitehurst, Saunders.

Liverpool: Grobbelaar; Venison, Nicol, Gillespie, Hansen; McMahon, Whelan,
Houghton, Barnes; Aldridge, Beardsley.

[OUFC4eva]

27th December 1976 - with no Boxing Day fixture due to
the 26th being a Sunday - Mick Brown's United lost 1-0 at Sw*ndon Town
in front of 12,125 at the County Ground. Mick Tait missed
a penalty at the Stratton Bank.The U's returned to the Manor Ground
two days later on a snow covered pitch and beat Reading 1-0 (Foley).

27-12-76 v STFC : Burton; Fogg, Bodel, Lowe, Shuker;
Houseman, Duncan, Jeffrey, M.Briggs; Foley, Tait.

[OUFC4eva]

December 28th 1987 - The U's travel to Loftus Road and lose 3-2 to Jim Smith's QPR
in front of just 9,125 on a very cold December morning on the astroturf.
The game was memorable because manager Maurice Evans selected striker
Billy Whitehurst at centre half.


Billy Whitehurst watches on as QPR striker Mark Falco scores.

U's: Hucker; Bardsley, Whitehurst, Caton, Dreyer; Shelton, Mustoe, Phillips, Hebberd; Foyle, Saunders
sub: Rhoades-Brown

Scorers: Saunders, Rhoades-Brown.

[OUFC4eva]

29th December 1984 - United demolish Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Manor
thanks to goals from McDonald (2), Aldridge (2) and Hamilton
in front of 11,522:

U's - Hardwick; Langan, Briggs, Shotton, McDonald; Rhodes-Brown, Hebberd, Trewick, Brock; Aldridge, Hamilton.
sub - Jones

[Radley Rambler]

29th December 1984 - United demolish Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Manor
thanks to goals from McDonald (2), Aldridge (2) and Hamilton
in front of 11,522:

U's - Hardwick; Langan, Briggs, Shotton, McDonald; Rhodes-Brown, Hebberd, Trewick, Brock; Aldridge, Hamilton.
sub - Jones

Now that's Bromance! Well, they always did have a certain understanding.

[Kernow Yellow]

29th December 1984 - United demolish Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Manor
thanks to goals from McDonald (2), Aldridge (2) and Hamilton
in front of 11,522:

U's - Hardwick; Langan, Briggs, Shotton, McDonald; Rhodes-Brown, Hebberd, Trewick, Brock; Aldridge, Hamilton.
sub - Jones

Now that's Bromance! Well, they always did have a certain understanding.

Although the picture's not taken at that Palace game - or even that season! I was at that game, at the far end of the Osler Road on what was then the 'Family Terrace'. Got a load of coins lobbed at us by the disgruntled Palace fans iirc.

[Old Abingdonian]

Beech Rd shelf out of range. We totally dominated this game (and several others that season) in a way we have rarely done since.

[OUFC4eva]

30th December 1978 - buoyed by their Boxing Day win over Colchester United,
Mick Brown's United backed that win up with another victory - their final game of 1978 -
defeating Alan Ashman's Walsall 2-1 for whom Ex-U Mick Kearns was between the sticks.

The goal scorers for United were David Fogg and Jason Seacole.Dave Serella
had equalized for the Saddlers in front on 4,231 at a freezing Manor Ground.
After this game United had to wait a further three weeks for their next fixture
due to very low temperatures in January 1979.

U's - Burton; Taylor, Bodel, Briggs, Fogg; Hodgson, Jeffrey, Duncan, Graydon;
Foley, Seacole.

[OUFC4eva]

31st December 2005 - Brian Talbot's United ended 2005 weakly with a 1-2
home reverse to Mansfield Town (Rhys Day scoring twice for the stags)
with Lee Bradbury scoring his final goal for the U's.
Only 4,005 attended and a few days later Bradbury signed for Southend
after his final appearance at home to Shrewsbury.

U's Chairman and owner Firoz Kassam revealed that
Bradbury would have qualified for an automatic one year's extension
to his contract had he played for the U's again. Bradbury was followed
out of the door by Chris Hackett, who signed for Graham Rix's Heart of
Midlothian and Craig Davies who signed for Italian outfit Hellas Verona.

It would be four months before United scored more than one goal
in a league game as the club hurtled towards relegation and the loss
of its Football League status in 2006.

http://www.skysports.com/football/oxfor ... ield/67498

[OUFC4eva]

1st January 2001 - Brentford thrash David Kemp's United 3-0 at Griffin Park.
Brentford's top scorer that season Andy Scott scored twice that afternoon
and a week later signed for United with team mate Robert Quinn for a combined fee of £150,000.
United's Director of Football Joe Kinnear revealed that a deal had also been agreed to sign
left back Kevin Austin from Barnsley. Austin was later to fail the medical and the deal collapsed.

http://www.11v11.com/matches/brentford- ... 2001-3935/

[OUFC4eva]

2nd January 1984 - top of the table U's travelled to St James Park, Exeter
and suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat. The day was further marred as United lost
classsy attacking midfielder Andy Thomas, 21 with a badly broken leg.
Thomas collided with on rushing Grecians 'keeper Len Bond and
only returned to first team action in April 1985.

U's - Hardwick; Hinshelwood, Briggs, Shotton, Grant;
Barnett, Hebberd, Thomas, Brock; Whatmore, Vinter.

Scorer: Barnett.

[OUFC4eva]

3rd January 1970 - 15,686 packed into the Manor Ground to see the U's
take on first division Stoke City in the third round of the FA Cup.

The game finished goalless but United lost the replay 2-3 four days later
at the Victoria Ground. Ken Skeen and Graham Atkinson got the goals
with big John Ritchie (2) and Willie Stevenson scoring for the Potters
before 17,204.

U's - Barron; Lucas, Smithson, Clarke, Shuker; R Atkinson,
Shepheard,Thompson, Harrington; G Atkinson, Skeen.

[OUFC4eva]

4th January 2003 - The U's have only ever played six times on January 4th.
In 2002-2003 United travelled to north London for a third round FA Cup
clash at Highbury and lost 2-0 to Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.
Dennis Bergkamp and an own goal from Scott McNiven did for the U's
in front of 35,432.

U's - Woodman; McNiven, Crosby, Waterman, Bound, Robinson; Hunter, Ford, Savage; Basham,Oldfield.
Subs: Scott, Steele, Louis.

[OUFC4eva]

5th January 1991 - Brian Horton's United travelled to Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea,
and produced a third round cup upset with a 3-1 victory in front of 14,586.

The U's goal scorers were strikers Lee Nogan and John Durnin
and midfielder Jim Magilton. Kerry Dixon got Chelsea's goal.

Oxford - Veysey; Robinson, Foster, Melville, Smart; L Phillips, McClaren, Magilton, Simpson; Durnin, Nogan.

Chelsea - Beasant; Hall, Clarke, Johnson, Cundy; Townsend, Wise, Bumstead, Stuart; Wilson, Dixon.