Paul Simpson at Ipswich in April 1991

It’s the time of year when games come with unerring rapidity. I’m still sulking about Monday’s defeat by Swansea City as I write this preview for the New Year’s Day game at Ipswich Town.

It would be fair to say that Portman Road is not the happiest hunting ground for the U’s, who have won just two of their 14 visits to Suffolk, most recently in February 2020, when Matty Taylor was left totally unmarked to tap home James Henry’s pass following a flowing team move for the game’s only goal.

The only other away win for Oxford came in October 1988, when goals from Jimmy Phillips and Martin Foyle earned United a 2-1 win in the Championship equivalent. Otherwise it’s been slim pickings until recenty, with just a 1-1 draw in April 1991 (see photo) being sandwiched by a run of six defeats.

However, since that win in 2020, Oxford have drawn there 0-0 in successive games before being hammered 3-0 on Boxing Day in 2022 as the Tractor Boys (is that really the best they could come up with? Not that we can criticise) won promotion to the Championship.

You can see the teams’ full head-to-head record HERE.

On This Date

Similar to Boxing Day, the first day of the year has become a traditional date for football, although it wasn’t always thus. Oxford have played 26 times on New Year’s Day, of which 14 have been this millennium.

Twelve of those 26 games have been away from home, with the U’s winning just four of them, including the last two times they have opened the year. Last season was the occasion of United’s first away win of the campaign, with Rúben Rodrigues scoring the game’s only goal at Millwall. One year earlier, Oxford were also in London, this time beating Charlton Athletic 2-1 thanks to Oisin Smyth’s last-minute piledriver.

The Yellows had lost their previous six NYD games on the road since winning 1-0 at Middlesbrough in 1985 on their way to the top flight, thanks to a Trevor Hebberd strike.

Oxford’s only other 1st January win was their first fixture in 1966, when they beat Mansfield Town 4-1 at Field Mill. Two goals apiece from Bill Calder and Graham Atkinson sealed the two points on offer.

You can check out all Oxford’s New Year’s Day games HERE.

The Match

The U’s leave OX4 for what they hope will be a perfect result, looking for an unfamiliar double after beating Ipswich 2-1 on 28th November. Oxford have yet to do the double over any side since winning promotion to the Championship.

If the Yellows did win it would be like a daydream, although I have to admit, I don’t know where it comes from. It’s more likely that our dreams burn down as we drive blind into a black nite crash and leave them all behind in a vapour trail while we twisterella towards relegation. But if we’re going to lose, let’s get lost with taste. Hopefully the players will lead a charm assault on the fans.

Enough of that. Since their defeat at Grenoble Road, Ipswich have won four and drawn two of the seven games, most recently beating top-of-the-table Coventry City as they climbed to third place in the Championship.

The Tractor Boys have won their last three home games, including their first meeting against Coventry 3-0, as well as Stoke City and, most recently, Sheffield Wednesday. Oxford, meanwhile, have won just once – the Boxing Day victory over Southampton – while on the road they have drawn at Blackburn Rovers but have been beaten by relegation rivals Swansea and Charlton Athletic (hopefully they’re still relegation rivals).

It’s clearly not going to be a walk in the park, although for some reason United play better against the better sides. Oxford have won just twice on the road all season, at Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday, so it’s going to take an almighty effort to repeat the feat at Portman Road.

It remains, to me, inexplicable how the side went from looking like a decent Championship side against Southampton, to League One relegation fodder against Swansea just three days later with the same line-up. Or maybe that was the issue? Perhaps Craig Short and co should have freshened up the side rather than asking them all to go again, despite them supposedly going in with confidence high.

Clearly, Swansea’s early goal drained that confidence and player that you would normally expect to do well failed to live up to expectations. Brodie Spencer had a mare at right back and the rest of the back line was shaky throughout. Only Jack Currie appeared to be playing without fear, but even he was off the pace.

No one, with the possible exceptions of Jamie Cumming, Brian De Keersmaecker, and Tyler Goodrham, could be exempt from criticism, which leads me to think that asking the same side to go again for a third time in a week would be a stretch too far. So I would expect, and would be happy, to see changes.

Who is the man to turn to in a crisis? It’s United’s longest-serving player, who never lets the side down. Sam Long has his limitations but has shown time and time again that when the chips are down, he can be relied upon to drive the team forward. He is surely the man to come into the side and add some steel.

Nik Prelec did himself no favours with his display on Monday, not that any of it was his fault particularly. However, with the side’s top scorer left warming the bench, we would be happy to see Will Lankshear return to the starting line-up. Dare I say it? It might even be a game that Mark Harris could be involved in, having had his best game of the season (he even scored) in the home game against Ipswich.

The wingers remain an enigma. Neither Stan Mills nor Przsemysłav Płacheta produced performances that suggested they’d be worth keeping in the side, although both are that inconsistent that they may be actually turn up against a team that allows them space to run into. Alternatively, Siriki Dembélé could be in with a shout, having seemingly returned to favour since Gary Rowett’s departure.

There are more questions that answers (forgive the off-topic Moody Blues reference) and I’m glad that I’m not in the frame to be the new manager (although, to be fair, I’ve not yet ruled myself out of the running). Should we get anything out of the game, I think it’s fair to ask those who came to see the wreck, how does it feel to feel?

UTFO