Oxford United have been very impressive in the first 4 games back in the second tier after 25 years away, most recently with a 3-1 win over Championship regulars Preston.
The club has been competitive in all 4 games so far, winning 2 and conceding 2 late winners to Blackburn and Coventry. Preston were seemingly caught by surprise by the Oxford press and fast wing play we see working so often and effectively. After Oxford got their equaliser, Preston stood no chance and provided no resistance to a team clearly very well trained by Des Buckingham. This is a team with resilience and the belief they can get results off some of the best teams in this country.
The 3rd goal for United seemed to emphasise that they wanted the win more. A set piece that Preston struggled to react to resulted in a simple 1 yard tap in.
Post-match, new Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom claimed that Tyler Goodrham would “never hit one like that again all year”. Wrong. This is lazy and simply shows he hadn’t done any research on the players he was up against – Goodrham scores stunners like that on a regular basis (he is only 21!)
However, it wasn’t all perfect for the club on Saturday, the first 20 minutes were a scary reminder of how difficult this level is. Preston scored inside 5 minutes – following a failed attempt to play out from the back – and were all over Oxford the entire opening 20 minutes. It looked like being a thrashing in favour of the away side, an Oxford injury allowed Buckingham to tweak his set up – moving Brannagan more defensive, subsequently gaining increased control of the ball.
A Des Buckingham Masterclass!