FAN’S VIEW: 24/25 – No.49: SUNDERLAND AT HOME

OXFORD UNITED 2 SUNDERLAND 0

So we’ve made it to safety with one game to go. It’s been emotional. Saturday was very emotional.

There have been times this season when we’ve played badly enough to deserve to go down but we only glance relatively briefly at how other teams in the division are doing compared to us. The Championship is one of the most competitive leagues around with the jeopardy factor making it an absolute nail bitter for many right up to the final fixture of the standard season.

Fans of about half the clubs in the league have been, to a greater or lesser extent, in the relegation debate until a game or two ago. Those fans, like ours, will know how they’ve played over the whole campaign and whether they’ve already got what they deserve or are likely to do so with one place for the drop still remaining.

Safe to say that with one game left we rightfully remain in the Championship and that we fully deserved to beat Sunderland.

Only after next Saturday’s games will we know the exact points required for survival.

Cardiff are gone but if they’d beaten us on Easter Monday they’d still be in there pitching. Plymouth are gone too because there’s no way they can claw back a goal difference that’s 18 worse than Luton’s. For some reason though William Hill are still offering odds on Argyle going down at 1/1000. So if you want to get a quick 0.1% return on your money feel free. I’m not going to bother.

Not that we care any more, other than regarding where we’ll be travelling to next season, but there are still five teams who can accompany Cardiff and Plymouth down the snake to L1.

We’ll just be relaxing at Swansea. Given that Stoke visit Derby each of those five teams can ensure they don’t drop if they win. I think the most vulnerable team is Preston who visit Bristol City. North End are on the worst form of the lot having lost their last four games and City need a win to consolidate their play-off slot. Pompey are safe so Hull could win there. WBA have nothing to play for having dropped off alarmingly so Luton look a good bet to win there. Preston are equal on points with Derby but have a goal difference that is inferior by three. Bookies are offering 7/2 on it being Preston.

A fortnight ago Preston’s odds were so long I wasn’t even quoting them in the FV but had pointed out that at the time when we were 18/1 we were only one point behind them. Even after the Easter Monday fixtures one bookie was offering Preston at 33/1. Should have grabbed some of that.

How sweet to be looking at all of this from afar.

The weekend started well, Stoke losing at home on Friday night to an out of form Sheffield United side who were already guaranteed third place. In front of the TV I celebrated when the Blades scored. This made the Potters a team we could now finish above.

Luton were a team that could still finish above us. For all we knew we’d get no more points in our remaining two games so were desperately wanting them to drop points in their early kick off at home to Coventry. The Blackbird went silent as Shandon Baptiste gave the Hatters a 1-0 win in the 90^th minute.

That didn’t put me in the best of moods as I walked to the Kassam. However, my spirits were soon lifted when the match began. We took the game to the visitors in the first few minutes unlike in many home games where we have immediately conceded the initiative.

Cameron Brannagan, after being set up by Ruben Rodrigues, hit another cracking effort from distance in the 6^th minute which keeper Anthony Patterson kept out with an excellent save. Cam is currently on superb shooting form. Not many around as good as him when he’s doing this.

From the resulting corner Sunderland broke at lightning pace, catching out almost the entire Oxford team. Wilson Isidor was still in his own half when the ball was launched. You don’t see football like this in the lower leagues, nor do you see centre-halves like Michal Helik, who was alert enough to prevent damage being done.

A few weeks back I was of the opinion that Elliott Moore was our best centre half. We’re spoiled for choice. Now there’s no way I’d pick him over Helik and Ben Nelson in a game that matters. They’re some partnership – and goal scorers too on the day as it turned out. Such a shame Nelson will likely be facing us in the blue of Leicester next season.

As the game settled down it was Sunderland who had the ball most of the time and when it was our turn to be in possession I have to confess to having been frustrated. We didn’t seem to make the simple sensible passing options to make sure that possession remained ours for longer than it did.

Never mind though because for all of that the visitors hardly laid a glove on us all game other than when Chris Rigg headed a cross against the post in the second half with Jamie Cumming well beaten. The stats, being very pedantic, don’t count this as a shot on target.

Our defence and the entire shape of the team were magnificent throughout this game. This is what Gary Rowett has brought to the club. Love it or hate it. On the day I loved it, unconditionally. And we looked more like scoring than they did.

Here are the stats.

Oxford 31.2% possession.

Corners Oxford 3, Sunderland 6.

Oxford total shots 17 with four on target.

Sunderland had ten shots but none on target.

There wasn’t much difference when it came to touches in the box. We had 18, they had 19.

Sunderland made 95 successful passes in the final third compared to our 55 but it didn’t get them anywhere.

Set pieces are our main route to goal.  We took the lead in the 29^th minute from a free-kick won by Mark Harris. He backed into his marker, £12m man Chris Mepham on loan from Bournemouth, who then tried to kick through him. Or was it exemplary shielding of the ball? As Tim Robinson is a Premier League referee I’ll say he made the right call. One I was certainly happy with and I became even happier when Will Vaulks delivered the perfect ball for Nelson to rise and head home. What a player our loanee is.

Whilst I’m dishing out praise, Vaulks had a great game in midfield which included some sterling defensive work.

The second half was only three minutes old when we doubled our lead. Again from a free-kick and again a centre half was the scorer. This time I think the awarding of the free-kick to us was 100% an incorrect decision. I thought so at the time and watching the replay has confirmed it. I’ll take whatever comes our way though – we’ve had plenty go against us throughout the campaign. All teams will feel the same. Following some Oxford pressure the ball hit Tyler Goodrham’s knee and left the penalty area. He sprinted after the ball but never caught up with it. Isidor let the ball run past him took a touch and looked to break away as Goodrham ran into him. Our man went down, theirs continued on his way. Initially Robinson let play go as if playing advantage for Sunderland then blew his whistle and gave us the free kick. He did similar a number of times during the match. Very strange. (* See edit at bottom of page – it’s been pointed out to me that the free-kick was 100% correctly given)

Brannagan smacked it, Patterson kept it out, the alert and on-side Helik from inside the six-yard box hit the ball into the ground and up into the net.

“We are staying up” sang many. Not me. I only did so with just two minutes of the added time remaining. Was very much safe to say so then – and only then – for me.

Not for the first time this season the home crowd were top drawer. At the Kassam it’s often the away following that take the honours. With visitors all packed in together and by definition almost certainly the most dedicated amongst the fan base, they’re the ones generating the noise and the vibe. Not always though. Times have changed with the home sections now always, save for two outliers, sold out.

Like against Sheffield United we were up for it to a man (and woman). Like when the Blades visited, we won the off-field vocal encouragement battle. When all is said and done, there was much more riding on this game for us than them. Wanting to take nothing away from our performance, I think that showed a touch on the pitch too in the way the Black Cats played. If they’d still been in with a chance of automatic promotion, or needed points to consolidate a top six finish, they may have been a different proposition.

One of the moments of the afternoon was when Greg Leigh was substituted in the 88^th minute. He left the pitch on the opposite side to the changing rooms so had to walk in front of the North stand, East stand and South stand where each in turn burst into “Ole, ole, ole, ole Greg Leigh, Greg Leigh” as he passed by. I think he enjoyed the moment. We certainly did.

The players’ celebrations at the final whistle were from the heart, as you’d expect. They do appear to have a deep genuine togetherness whether they’re relatively new, been around for many years, or are just on loan.  

This carried on when they reappeared a couple of minutes later with partners and multiple children (literally in Josh McEachran’s case).

I do just wonder what one or two of them were actually thinking. That’s the same every year at this time. JMc’s contract only runs to the end of the season. He hasn’t started a league game since the 8^th of November and hasn’t made a league appearance at all in 2025. He won’t be around next season. Then there’s our record signing Ole Romeny who hasn’t done much and isn’t being picked. Being paid though, and quite well I would have thought. He is an Indonesian international after all.

The Championship top four by some distance are Leeds, Burnley, Sheffield United and Sunderland. At the Kassam we only lost 1-0 to Leeds, who resorted to time wasting, we drew 0-0 with Burnley and beat the other two 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.

It’s quite easy to look at our survival as a whole and forget about the contrast between home and away form. With one game to go the only team with a worse away record than us is Plymouth. At home we’re joint 11^th best. Goes without saying that if we are to progress we need to improve on our travels whilst continuing at the very minimum to do as well as we have on home turf.

So that’s it for another season other than a game with no tension for either of the two sides facing each other. Time to sit back and relax, although I would like to see us accumulate as many points as possible and get as high as we can in the table. We could still finish anywhere between 14^th and 19^th.

I’m not expecting players who have manfully carried injuries to get us over the survival line to be asked to turn out again. Cameron Brannagan deserves to put his feet up. Others may well be given the chance to stretch their legs.

There was a time when doing the 92 was a thing and the two words “new ground” were uttered with glee when the opportunity arose. I’d cracked the 92 back in the early 80s (a very long time ago) and with not much happening with regard to those 92 remaining the same or clubs moving ground it was easy to maintain membership of the 92 club. All that changed. Automatic promotion / relegation between the football league and the top of the non-league pyramid only began in 1986/87. That only involved one team going each way. That’s now two, and multiple clubs have relocated. We’ve done it once and fingers crossed we’ll be doing it again soon. With all this I’m nowhere near the current full set. The Liberty Stadium will be a “new ground” for me and the vast majority of travelling yellows. I’ve time to think about that now, there’s not so much football concern occupying my mind now we’re safe. Cardiff was another new one, but then all I could think about was the importance of the encounter to come.

(* Edit – “On the free kick for the second goal – my read was that Isildor had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was actually one of the Sunderland centre halves that tripped him as he made a move for the ball (completely unnecessarily, because Tyler was never going to win it). Ref was in perfect position and spotted it.” Thanks for putting me right tonyw – good job I’m not a referee. I should probably cut them more slack than I do.)