New Tear’s Day 1987 – Ray Houghton on target against Southampton

Southampton are the Boxing Day visitors to the Kassam Stadium in United’s first post-Rowett match following the former manager’s dismissal on Tuesday.

Oxford and Southampton have met just 15 times, seven of them in the Shire, but the sides are no strangers to Christmastime matches.

Of those seven home games, the sides have an equal record, both having won two and drawn three, and both having scored nine goals.

Although this is he first time the teams have met competitively since 1996, the U’s haven’t lost at home to the Saints since April 1976, a period that encompasses just four games. The first of these was in the top flight on Boxing Day 1985, exactly 40 years before the current meeting. On that day, in those heady times before social media, an unknown signing from Tottenham Hotspur, David Leworthy, scored two of Oxford’s goals in a 3-0 win (the other came from John Aldridge).

The following season the sides met at the Manor on New Year’s Day 1987, with the Yellows again scoring three goals thanks to Aldridge again, Billy Whitehurst, and Ray Houghton (see photo). The final score was 3-1.

The other two home games since then were both drawn, 0-0 in Oxford’s final First Division season on 4th April, and 1-1 in the League Cup in November 1996.

You can see Oxford’s full record against Southampton HERE.

On This Date

Needless to say, Boxing Day is the most common date for United fixtures, with 62 already played on this date since the club turned semi-professional in 1949. Of those, 41 have been at home, so thanks to the fixture computer for that, enabling us to have 29 festive home victories and a mere three draws.

Last season, in Gary Rowett’s first game in charge, United beat Cardiff City 3-2, with goals from Mark Harris, Ciaron Brown, and Przsemysłav Płacheta, as the U’s embarked on a run of form that eventually led to Championship survival. In the previous season, Brown and Tyler Goodrham scored the goals that saw Oxford beat Cambridge United 2-1 on their way to the play-offs.

Oxford beat AFC Wimbledon 2-0 behind closed doors during the Covid season, and Lincoln City 1-0 in their previous play-off campaign. The last time Oxford lost at home on Boxing day was in 2018 when they went down 1-0 to Southend United.

A run of four consecutive home games between 2013 and 2016 included three defeats, with just a 3-0 win over Exeter City in 2015 providing the festive cheer.

In United’s first Conference season in 2006, the club went all out to promote the Boxing Day fixture against Woking, resulting in a League record crowd – and a season’s high for Oxford – of 11,065.

The first Boxing Day game at the Kassam Stadium was a 2-1 defeat by Luton Town in 2001.

In Oxford’s time in the original First Division, two of the three Boxing Day games were at home, including a 3-0 reverse to Liverpool in 1987 as well as that 3-0 win over the Saints in 1985.

The side’s best Boxing Day win was a 5-0 smashing of Bristol City in the second tier in 1973, while between 1957 and 1963 the U’s won all six of their home Boxing Day ties. That run included a 7-3 win over Corby Town in the Southern League in 1958.

United’s heaviest Boxing Day defeat was a 6-0 reverse to Bedford Town in 1956. Their first game on 26th December was at home to Chelmsford City in 1949. Headington won 2-1.

The Game

As noted at the start, this game comes on the back of Gary Rowett’s dismissal, with Craig Short taking temporary charge of the side until a new incumbent is appointed. This is his third time as caretaker manager, with him bridging the gap between Liam Manning and Des Buckingham in 2023, when he won both his games in charge: a 5-1 battering of the Chelsea U21 side in the Who Gives A Shit Trophy followed by a hugely entertaining win at Leyton Orient. Last season, looking after the side after Buckingham’s departure, he suffered a rather forgettable 4-0 defeat at Leeds.

Rowett’s departure has rather overshadowed the preparations for the visit of Southampton, but the remaining coaching staff and the players will all, hopefully, be focused on the task at hand. In his pre-match presser, Short has said that he will change things up a bit, with a hint that he will be looking to the younger players to bring the necessary energy. Good news, perhaps, for Tyler Goodrham and Jack Currie.

Cameron Brannagan is back in training but is unlikely to be ready for Friday’s match, while Brodie Spencer played his first game after a lengthy injury at Charlton on Saturday, so the medical team may consider it prudent to rest him for this one, possibly with one eye on Swansea City on Monday.

The fans will be looking to the team to provide a reaction to that rather lame defeat at the Valley, and we suspect that Short will be the same. Hopefully this will include a slightly more attacking attitude than has been prevalent recently, with some pace added to the starting line up.

It should be remembered that Southampton aren’t going to be coming to Oxford just to make up the numbers or be a sideshow to the Oxford United drama. They were a Premier League team last season and are currently 11th in the Championship, with 31 points from 22 games.

The Saints have lost their last two away games, at Norwich City and Millwall, but before that they beat Charlton 5-1 and QPR 2-1 on the road. Their squad includes former Oxford goalkeeper George Long, on loan from Norwich, but he has yet to make an appearance for them.

There will be a sell-out crowd at the Kassam for this Boxing Day game and hopefully, with the departure of Rowett, an upbeat crowd. The side will hopefully be buoyed by what should be a cup-tie atmosphere, and with few expectations we expect to see a good performance.

Whether that will translate into victory – or even a draw – is obviously not the main story. Rather, it is the beginning of the transition to yet another new era at the club. One that, if the right appointment is made, could see yet another revival of the Mighty Yellows.

Let’s go into this one on the front foot. UTFO