United and Preston in FA Cup quarter-final action at the Manor in 1964

Next up in this three-game week, it’s Preston North End, who are currently fifth in the Championship, a similar position to that of Ipswich Town before they came to Oxford and were beaten 2-1.

Before getting too despondent about the size of the task facing the U’s in Saturday’s early kick off (don’t forget, the game starts at 12.30pm, so don’t get too distracted by the delights of the local hostelries), there are a couple of good omens on top of that Ipswich victory.

First, United manager Gary Rowett has never lost a game against the Lilywhites in 15 attempts. Second, Oxford actually have a half-decent record at home against Preston.

Oxford have won nine of their 14 home games against Preston, including last season’s 3-1 win at the end of August, when goals from Tyler Goodrham, Mark Harris (yes, really), and Greg Leigh secured one of the Yellows’ biggest margins of victory of the season.

One of the three defeats to Preston was the first meeting between the sides, in February 1964, when Oxford became the first Fourth Division side to reach the FA Cup quarter finals, losing 2-1 to Second Division North End, in the side’s first ever Leap Day match. The game set a record home crowd of 22,750, which has never been beaten.

The sides were regular opponents in the 1970s and early 1980s before United somehow leapt ahead to become regulars in the top two tiers, not clashing again until the turn of the millennium, when Preston turned the tables by doing the double over United in the 1999/2000 season, which included a 4-0 home defeat by the Deepdale side.

And that was it for a further 24 years until the teams met again last season. See United’s full set of results against Preston HERE.

On This Date

United have played just 12 times on 13th December, of which they have lost three. Only one of those defeats has been at home, a 2-1 defeat by Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup second round in 2005.

Oxford have won the last three times that they’ve played on this date, most recently a 3-0 FA Cup win over Macclesfield in a second round replay at the Kassam Stadium in 2016, setting up a third round trip to Rotherham United.

The last league win on 13th December came two years earlier against Bury. In 1969, United drew 0-0 in Division Two, while the next home game, 23 years later, was also a goalless draw, against Leicester City.

The Match

Preston’s away record is slightly better than United’s home one, and the last time they were on the road they beat the division’s whipping boys Sheffield Wednesday 3-2, their only win in their last six games, a run that includes two 1-1 draws at Watford and Millwall.

It should also probably be mentioned that Preston have lost just one of their last eight matches, 2-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers. They have drawn their last two games 1-1, both at home, with former Oxford target Liam Lindsay getting sent off against Coventry City, meaning he will miss Saturday’s game.

Preston will also be without Ali McCann, Jamal Lewis, Lewis Gibson, Milutin Osmajić, Robbie Brady and Theo Carroll through injury, although Mads Frøkjær may be in the squad after missing the last two matches, while Brad Potts and Andrija Vukčević could also feature.

United will be buoyed by the sight of Cameron Brannagan and Przsemysłav Płacheta apparently taking part in training, although there is still no news on Brodie Spencer and Matt Phillips. Meanwhile, Siriki Dembélé still appears to be persona non grata, despite Oxford’s need for someone to play on the left, a role that has recently been performed by either Tyler Goodrham or Filip Krastev, neither of whom are naturally wide men.

The U’s have lost just one of their last five games, with their last home outing been that superlative win over Ipswich, which came off the back of an equally impressive 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. So we know that Oxford can compete with the best the division has to offer, it just depends which Yellows side shows up on the day.

Although United need to put some more wins together to rise out of reach of the bottom three, it has to be said that a point against Preston would have to be considered a good one. We know, though, that they can do so much better, and with the away form still somewhat dodgy (a position that we hope will change at Charlton next weekend), it would be good to see the side on the front foot and taking the game to Preston (with all the usual caveats about not being too open and expansive, etc, etc).

With the early kick off, the away end not (yet) selling out (although there will be a thousand or so travelling down from Lancs), and some disgruntlement about the place regarding the away form, and possibly the lowest home attendance of the season so far, those that are present will have to be at their best to provide the atmosphere necessary to drive the side on to another momentous victory.

We did it against Ipswich, now we have to do it again… UTFO