After a good game v Cov and a good 90 mins at Wrexham we definitely should be winning this. 2-0 City.
This is a good early test of where we are at I think. Oxford, whilst not weak, really should be the kind of team you want to be beating at home if you want to be above 20th. The result is clearly not be all and end all at this stage but the performance will show us what we might be expecting out of the season. I think it’ll be close but we’ll edge it.
Visions of 70/71 all over again? Fresh from beating top of the league and unbeaten at home Sheff Utd on the Tuesday in the Battle of Bramall Lane in front of a full house 40,000+, then over 39,000 at Boothferry Park on the Saturday to see us hammer Oxford with Ron Atkinson lining up at centre half for them and his brother at full back.......you know the rest, one nil Oxford. Hope it's not the case on Sunday. I'd take a home win, last minute own goal would do for me.
Recall it well...The anticipation of a thumping win to bolster the promotion charge was palpable at 3pm. When the final whistle went, the sense of gloom was like that at a wake for a just departed relative. How many games did we win, in the run-in, following the win at Sheff Utd? Was it two? PS..Big Ron took no prisoners..
Oxford have a strange squad. Will Lankshear is a decent signing up front and Tyler Goodrham is decent out on the wing (we were after him last Summer). Siriki Dembele is always a handful. Yet, they just don't have strength in depth and on paper they're the kind of team we should be comfortably beating with what we have. I think 2-0 to us is what I'll go for, but after what happened at Wrexham, I'm wary of complacency and thinking we have the game won. Oxford survived comfortably last season (four points and four places above us) because Rowett had them organised and disciplined. They play a 4-4-2, so it'll mean we'll have a compact midfield in front of us that we'll need to break down. I'm sure Michal Helik has scored past us a few times from set pieces (although it was for Huddersfield).
RIP Emily, condolences to all her family and friends, any players reading....better still can we score a goal in the 24th minute to really raise the roof.