Meadow Lane as it looked when United last visited in January 2016

It’s been over ten years since Oxford and Notts County last met, with both teams travelling in different directions only to end up in the same place.

The sides’ first meeting took place in Nottingham in the Fourth Division, in October 1964, with neither side bothering to score. Oxford went on to win promotion that season, so the sides didn’t meet again until 1973 in Division Three, with the away game in October again failing to see a goal.

This stalemate was broken almost exactly one year later, when the Magpies shat on the U’s from a great height, with Brian Heron’s goal being a mere consolation in a 4-1 defeat for our boys. The following season, another October game saw the Yellows gain a modicum of revenge when Derek Clarke scored the only goal of the game to earn a United victory.

The teams’ paths again diverged, and they next met in Oxford’s Second Division championship season, when County failed to read the script and beat Division One bound Oxford 2-0 at Meadow Lane at the start of December 1984.

That was the first of a run of five games that saw United come away with just two points from their trips to Notts, with the last match of that run coming in Oxford’s promotion season to the second tier, when David Rush opened the scoring for the U’s, only for them to be pegged back in the second half.

Back in the third tier, Oxford finally returned to winning ways at Meadow Lane as the millennium was drawing to a close, with a 1-0 win in November 1999 courtesy of an own goal from former U’s defender Mark Warren.

The following season, United had already been long relegated to the basement division when they travelled to Notts for the final game of the 2000/01 campaign, A rare Rob Folland opening goal wasn’t enough to prevent Oxford going down to a 2-1 defeat.

In August 2004, Lee Bradbury scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot to earn a fourth tier victory for the U’s. This was followed by a goalless draw in March 2006, which didn’t really help United in their fruitless fight against relegation out of the league.

Which brings us to that final meeting between the sides in Oxford’s League Two promotion-winning season at the start of January 2016. Liam Sercombe opened the scoring with a first-half penalty after he had been brought down. In the second half, County turned the game around to lead 2-1 before a stunning display saw goals from Alex MacDonald, Callum O’Dowda, and Kemar Roofe to set United on their way.

Here’s the full list of results between United and Notts County.

The Match

Oxford United take to the pitch for their first meaningful match since the 1-1 draw with Cambridge United three weeks ago. However, because in League One several teams carried on playing through the international break, Oxford have meanwhile dropped from sixth place to tenth. They have, however, played just six games, fewer than every other side in the division.

United are now five points adrift of Plymouth Argyle, who are now top, but have played three games fewer. These games in hand are all due to be played before Christmas, meaning a lot of fixtures close together over the next three months, which is where the squad’s strength in depth is likely to be tested. Come through these games without too many injuries (and there are currently injured players due to return shortly) and remain in a healthy place ahead of January, this could prove to be a decent season after all, with the proviso that the club is in a position to have the registration embargo lifted ahead of the next transfer window.

Off the pitch, the progress towards the new stadium rumbles on. The latest development at the oral hearing saw the judge dismiss the opposition claims as being ‘unarguable’, which is about as close as telling them to piss off back to where they came from as is legally acceptable. However, like a dog with a bone, the Friends of the Triangle Stratfield Brake are still pursuing their lost cause and have appealed against the decision. They will inevitably be told that there are no grounds to appeal, after which they will hopefully disappear, never to be heard from again.

After seven games, Notts County are in 20th place, with one home win, against Burton Albion. They have also drawn with Leicester City and lost to Bradford City at Meadow Lane, meaning there’s nothing statistically noteworthy from which to draw meaningful conclusions. So we won’t.

In that draw with Cambridge, United were hit by an injury to Jamie McDonnell that will see him miss out for at least a couple of months. On the plus side, Aidomo Emakhu, Jeon Jin-Woo, and Ruben Roosken have all hopefully made progress with their recoveries and at least one of them might be available for this weekend.

Meanwhile, the four players involved with their countries over the break still seem to be fit, which is nice. Both Ciaron Brown and Brodie Spencer received rave reviews for Northern Ireland, with Brown in particular pulling up trees. He scored a brace in their 3-0 win over Ukraine for his first international goals and was included in EA Sports’ Team of the Week, which is presumably some kind of honour.

Mark Harris featured for Wales a couple of times, although has yet to break his international duck, while Kai Andrews captained Wales U21s to two defeats, including a 7-1 bollocking by Austria.

Combined with United’s 2-2 draw and subsequent penalty shoot-out defeat at Exeter City in the whatever it’s called now trophy, this leaves some interesting selection choices for Aaron Ramsey. Not least in goal, where Simon Eastwood has been the chosen keeper since Jamie Cumming’s injury at Stevenage six weeks ago. However, Cumming returned for the Exeter game to confirm his return to fitness and it remains to be seen who the coaching staff prefer to start.

I suspect that the team will revert to the usual defensive back four, with Peter Kioso at right back, Michał Helik and Brown in the middle, and Spencer on the left, although it was heartening to see Greg Leigh get a run out at St James’ Park for the first time since January.

McDonnell is obviously the big loss in midfield, although Louie Sibley has done his chances of a start no harm with his recent performances. Cameron Brannagan will almost certainly start, although he was getting an ice bag after being substituted against the Grecians, with Andrews also in contention. In addition, Tyler Goodrham’s form has improved after a slow start and he could be brought into a forward midfielder role, where he has excelled in the past. In addition, the arrival of Bradney Harrison from the academy to the first team could be (another) of this season’s great success stories.

The other, of course, is the explosion onto the scene of winger Mo Missanga, who has gone from strength to strength in his rapid development. True, against Cambridge he had his most challenging game yet, which will help with his learning, but his second-half performance against Exeter showed a maturity beyond his years that must have pleased the coaching staff and which will, I suspect, earn him a start against County.

On the opposite flank, I fully expect Siriki Dembélé to return to the side. He can be frustrating and brilliant in equal measure but, unless Emakhu is ready to return, he is the one player that can drive the side up the pitch and help relieve pressure on the back line. If his final-third decision making could be improved, he could be the side’s talisman.

Although Gatlin O’Donkor was given a start in the Exeter game, I reckon that Harris will be the chosen lone striker option this weekend. Gats did well enough, but his best performances have come from the bench and I suspect that will be his role again on Saturday.

The current make-up of the squad means that there remains plenty of options for the bench, with Sam Long, Jack Currie, Luka Lynch and others all having a decent shout of a starting place. Leo Snowden and Aiden Elliott-Wheeler also did their chances no harm with their performances at Exeter, while everyone would love to see Leigh involved again.

The most important thing is for Oxford to try to regain the form they had before the break and the best way to do this is to impose themselves on the game with a strong start. It’s an early kick-off (12.30pm) and there should be a decent away following with over 2,000 tickets already sold. Let’s get this second part of the season off to a winning start.

Women Take On Swindon

On Sunday, Oxford United Women are at home to Swindon Town in the FAW National League Southern Division (2pm kick off at the MGroup Stadium). The U’s are top of the league after six games, with maximum points and still to concede a goal.

Last Sunday they travelled to Weymouth to take on second-placed AFC Bournemouth and came away with a hard-fought 1-0 win, thanks to Kate Wiseman’s first-half goal. The side then had to spend the whole of the second half with ten players following a harsh second yellow card for right-back Nic Gibson.

This allowed the side to demonstrate a different side to their game, with their usual free-flowing passing football replaced by a more resilient, tougher approach to the game. They limited a strong Bournemouth side to just a couple of attempts, while hitting the bar themselves from a free kick.

There’s a quarter of the season gone and the hope must be that the team will mount a serious challenge for promotion to WSL 2. The top side goes up automatically, with the second-placed team entering a play-off against the runners-up of the Northern Division.

Swindon are third from bottom and struggling a bit in their first season at this level. It should be a home win, but as we all know, football has a habit of throwing up strange results, especially in local derbies. I can’t see this Oxford side allowing the visitors to ruin the party, but it would be nice to have a large, partisan crowd in Marston to cheer them on. There really is something special brewing with this team and they deserve a bigger audience.

With prices reduced for this fixture, why not get down there and support another team that represents the Oxford badge with pride and honour.

UTFO