Pointless Statistics

1) 20th April
Everyone who was there will remember what happened on April 20th 1986, the Wembley victory over QPR is the high-point of Oxford United’s history so far. Younger fans will also recall the 2-0 victory at Bristol City on the 20th April 1996 as United surged to promotion with an incredible late run. This led me to think, what is United’s record on this date like since we entered the league. Oxford have played on the 20th April on 13 occasions, the record stands at:

Quite amazing, I think that in the future this date should be reserved for Swindon away games!

2) David Rush
Despite signing him, Denis Smith didn’t really seem to be a big David Rush fan. During the 1995/6 promotion season, David Rush started 49 games, but Smith pulled him off in 32 of these. This total alone would place Rush in the all-time top 10 Oxford substituted players list. The following season, he started 4 games, and was subbed in them all.

3) Matt Murphy
Matt Murphy has made 183 appearances for Oxford. Of these however, 88 were as a substitute, making him the player who has come on as sub the most for Oxford. Strangely, he also holds the record for the most times taken off, currently at 47 games (up to and including the Norwich game). So this means that Matt Murphy has only played the full 90 minutes 48 times out of 183 appearances.

4) The FA Cup draw is fixed
Everyone knows that the FA Cup draw is fixed. Manchester United always gets a home draw, Oxford United always gets an away draw, or so the theory goes. After Oxford’s December 1995 home victory over Northampton Town, we were drawn away on 5 successive occasions until the home tie against Chelsea. The run in the 1970s is by far the most unlikely however. From January 1975 until February 1982, Oxford was in the hat on a total of 13 occasions, and was drawn away an incredible 12 times! It wasn’t always like this though, in the 1963/4 season Oxford became the first Division Four side to reach the 6th round, aided by the fact we were drawn at home on 6 successive occasions. Oxford’s next 2 FA Cup draws were home ties, making 8 in a row.