Mark Harris fires Oxford into the lead (Photo: Steve Daniels

United completed their best week of the season (so far) with arguably their best win of the season (so far) as they beat fifth-placed Ipswich Town 2-1 for their second home win of the campaign in front of the Sky cameras on Friday evening.

Mark Harris scored his first goal of the season to give United a half-time lead, with Leif Davis equalising for the visitors shortly after the interval. A superb counter-attacking goal from Przsemysłav Płacheta completed the scoring and earned the U’s a vital three points.

The evening didn’t start off too well from a personal perspective. I missed the 3A bus by a matter of seconds so had to wait 10 minutes for the 3, which took me to Rose Hill, from where I had to walk through Littlemore.

‘Never mind’, I thought. I’ll console myself with a quick pint in the Golden Ball en route to the ground, only to find a note pinned to the door saying ‘This business has ceased trading’. That was the low point; I made my way instead to J’s Bar where a bottle of London Pride and a meeting with some friends put the night back onto the right path.

I entered the stadium to the flashing lights of hundreds of mobile phones, along with flame throwers and fireworks as the club took full advantage of the nighttime kick-off to provide pre-match entertainment.

Pleasantries concluded, the game began with both teams probing the opposition defences. Ipswich looked sharper and moved the ball quicker, overloading the wings as they tried to use the width of the pitch to their advantage.

However, their final ball was poor and there was precious little to trouble Jamie Cumming in the Oxford goal. At the other end, Christian Walton was similarly unworked until midway through the half when under not much pressure, Azor Matisuwa underhit a back pass. Sparky was first to the loose ball and fired in a right-footed shot that brought a superb save from Walton. However, the ball rebound to the Oxford striker who showed admirable composure to steer the ball into the empty net with his left foot.

That was Sparky’s first goal for Oxford since the one at Carrow Road last March and was just reward for his endeavour and hard work. It’s never nice to see a popular player going through a barren spell and so everyone was particularly pleased to see him back on the scoresheet.

This was Harris’s vindication for his selection. The groans that met his appearance in the line-up were audible all round Oxford, but the goal justified Gary Rowett’s decision to stick with United’s #9. His reasoning was that, having watched Ipswich’s previous games, he believed that they were vulnerable to the quick closing down that Harris provides

In evidence of his renewed confidence, not long after Sparky tried an audacious shot from within his own half, having seen Walton off his line. Unfortunately, the keeper got back to comfortably field the ball.

By the time that half time arrived, United had just 27 per cent of the possession (although I’ve always been a bit suspicious of these figures, ever since I sat next to someone from PA at an away game at Aldershot once, who told me that he just made it up), but had five shots on target, whereas Ipswich, with their 73 per cent (someone check my maths please) hadn’t had a single effort on target.

Of course, that was bound to change in the second half. Partly because Oxford always seem to concede in the 15 minutes after the break, and partly because there’s no way that Ipswich would be so poor again after presumably getting a rocket from Kieran McKenna.

And so it proved just seven minutes into the second period when the visitors won a corner. It was swung out to the edge of the area where Davis met it first time on the volley. The ball found just about the only gap where it would threaten the goal and hit the net beyond Cumming’s dive. It was a great strike, although questions might be asked why Davis was left unmarked on the edge of the box.

I think it’s just that Ipswich did their homework, saw how United set up to defend corners – five or six players in the six-yard area marking zonally and the rest trying to stay with the runners when the ball comes over, leaving no one spare to mark those outside the area. That, combined with an absolutely perfect strike of the ball, sometimes just cannot be catered for.

Following the equaliser, Oxford had to weather a spell of Ipswich pressure, with Cumming forced into two or three quite extraordinary saves. Thankfully, their crossing remained poor and with United’s defensive resilience, Ipswich were unable to take the lead.

That honour went to Oxford. A long hopeful ball was swung from deep into the Oxford area, where Jack Currie headed the ball down to Brian De Keersmaecker. He spotted Płacheta’s run from inside the United half and played a perfectly weighted ball into Shemmy’s path. Accelerating past two defenders, he took one touch with his right foot to take him more central before planting the ball left-footed past Walton at his near post.

Needless to say, the crowd went spare. This was counter-attacking football at its very best. I’ve watched it back countless times since getting back from the stadium and it remains a thing of beauty. To be honest, having watched Shemmy fluffing much simpler chances in previous games, I wasn’t confident that he was going to score as he raced through on goal. Thankfully he proved me wrong.

Oxford had further chances to put the game to bed. Tyler Goodrham came off the bench and with his first touch of the ball shot a foot wide from about 30 yards, catching Walton off guard. Next, a sublime back heel from De Keersmaecker found Ole Romeny, whose 25-yarder screamed inches over the bar with the Ipswich keeper well beaten. United’s final chance came from a Will Vaulks throw that ended with Will Lankshear’s shot hitting Walton from close range, when if he’d left it, Luke Harris was in a decent position. Can’t blame Lankshear – he’s a striker whose job it is to get shots away.

This could be a pivotal result for Oxford in the context of the season. It not only lifted them back out of the bottom three, but it brought them back into the pack of sides fighting to avoid relegation, with Saturday’s results largely going Oxford’s way as well.

It makes this Saturday’s game at Swansea City fairly huge. The Swans are just one point behind Oxford, so while a draw would not be ideal it won’t be the end of the world. A United win, however, would lift the U’s four points clear of the bottom three.

Before we worry about next weekend, though, let’s just glory in a wonderful win for a few more days.

EDIT: 70 games since United were awarded a penalty