Chris Gadsby continues his look at our oppenents this season, continuing with Oxford United.
Full Name: Oxford United Football Club
Nickname: The U’s
Founded: 1893
Ground: Kassam Stadium (Capacity 12,500)
Record against County: Played 4, Won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 1, Goals For 4, Goals Against 3
Last Season: 13th – Oxford travelled to Rodney Parade on the final day of last season and put the final nail in the playoff coffin for County. They spent a good part of the first half of the season in the bottom half of the table but were never really in too much danger of being dragged into a relegation battle. A lot of the problem that the U’s had last season was that up until about the last ten games, they struggled to put together a long run of form, stopping them from accumulating a large number of points quickly and climbing up the table.
Key Player: Sam Slocombe – Oxford conceded a lot of goals last season and the introduction of the new keeper from Scunthorpe could provide the extra security at the back that the U’s require to complement their good form in front of goal. He has already commented that he believes Oxford can mount a promotion push this coming season, only time will tell if he is correct.
Fixtures: November 24th (A) April 19th (H)
Prediction: Oxford were good in front of goal last season but struggled at times at the back. With Slocombe now in between the posts they will be hoping that they can keep more clean sheets and pick up some more points to enable them to finish higher up the league and make progress towards promotion. An improvement on last season’s 13th is certainly possible but they need to get off to a better start than last year, where they only scored one point in August, so to avoid playing catch up for the rest of the year.