There’s always a great atmosphere at Oxford United Women’s home games and the opening home game of the season was no exception. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the vibe at the MGroup Stadium (it’ll always be Court Place Farm to me) was buzzing.

It might not be a traditional cauldron of noise with a slight undertone of menace that you get at most men’s games, but I’ll take a crowd of smiling football fans and untethered children in a relaxing and happy mood any day of the week.

And, to be fair, Oxford played it perfectly, with friendly staff, stewards so laid back that I thought Roly was asleep, and a musical playlist on the tannoy that could barely be heard behind the goal. In addition, the bar was open and the food for sale looked delicious (although sadly far too expensive for my mediocre bank balance (£9 for a burger is arguably juat about acceptable if you’re just buying for yourself and not half a dozen kids, but £11 for loaded fries does make you wonder what it is that they’re loaded with: liquid platinum?).

Oxford United Women get ready to take on AFC Wimbledon Women (Photo: Darrell Fisher)

The vibe of the pre-match build-up was carried into the game itself, as after some initial nerves Oxford got their game together and took the game to the visitors with a display of joyful attacking football, neat passing and a certain swagger about their game. Unfortunately, the final ball was generally missing, meaning that the former Oxford keeper in the Wimbledon goal, Rose Kite, was rarely tested.

On the other hand, Beth Wookey (formerly Beth Howard before she got married during the summer, which opens up a whole new thread about why women take their husbands’ surnames in these supposedly post-patriarchal times) in the Oxford goal only had the occasional backpass to field, right until the end of the first half when she got down well to keep out Wimbeldon’s only attempt on target.

United had already had the ball in the net, although Maisy Barker was rightly ruled offside, while Kite had to gather a close-range header from new skipper Naomi Bedeau at a corner. And so the sides went in level at the break, with Oxford frustrated that their dominance in possession hadn’t led to enough clear-cut chances.

The half-time break was a celebration of the community nature of United’s women’s club, as girls from their development programme took to the pitch for various exercises and footy games, all wearing United kit. It looked the perfect way to get youngsters involved in the game and ready to become the next generation of Oxford United fans. They were all playing with smiles on their faces and ably marshalled by the coaches. Another fantastic advertisement for the club.

The second half was moments old when United finally made their dominance count. During the half-time break a group of girls entertained the crowd with a rendition of Abba’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! in homage to Norwegian striker Adele Lindbaek (Dele, Dele, Dele, our striker’s from Norway, put it on her right foot and she’ll score us a goal) and sure enough, she received the ball on her right foot and fired it past Kite to give Oxford the lead.

Unfortunately, the visitors hadn’t read the script and just a few minutes later they were level. A free kick was launched into the Oxford area and another former U’s player, Hannah MacKenzie, smashed her header into the far corner. The Wimbledon celebrations suggested that they knew they’d got away with one, being level when the U’s should have been out of sight.

Oxford continued to batter the Dons for the remainder of the game without quite doing enough to trouble Kite. Indeed, the visitors could have – should have – won the game in stoppage time. United had piled forward for a corner from which Wimbledon broke, three players charging towards the Oxford goal with just Wookey in the way. Thankfully the U’s keeper timed her dive well to clutch the ball off the foot of one of the Wimbledon players, with her teammates screaming for the pass that would have given them an open goal.

So the result was a disappointment, but the performance gave us the promise of much more to come. Once the kinks are ironed out and this group gels – and it should be borne in mind that over half the starting line-up weren’t with the U’s last season – then I reckon this is going to be a side to be reckoned with this season.

A special word, by the way, for Riva Casley. Two years ago, the United centre-back left to play for Portsmouth, helping them to promotion to the WSL. She returned last summer as United’s most expensive signing, slotted straight back into the side and, against Wimbledon, made her 100th appearance for the club. Alongside Bedeau, they are going to be one of the most formidable defences in the division.

Make sure you get down to their next home game, you won’t regret it.