Last Home Game

An Article also published in today's matchday programme against Lincoln City.

Blimey, is it that time already? Last home game of the season? Time flies doesn’t it?


I mean, it only seems like, what? Nine months ago that we were sat here for that Carling Cup game against Brizzle Rovers?

Oh, it was nine months ago. Well there you go then.

It’s been a topsy-turvy old season and that’s for sure. Beating a team a division above 6-1 in the cup, a trip to Premiership West Ham and some fine, fine performances putting us within a whisker of promotion at one point were all on the topsy side of things.

Losing 5-0 at Bradford, crashing out early in the FA Cup, losing points at home we shouldn’t have with some mediocre performances and the season fizzling out two weeks early probably were all on the turvy side of things. Whatever a turvy is. (Actually, didn’t he used to play in goal for us?)



So we will be missing out on play-offs and promotion this season barring some strange points deduction shenanigans, a mass resignation of clubs from the league or a plague of locusts somehow contriving to affect the established points totals (don’t scoff - this was exactly what curtailed the Egyptian League season early in the 1,500 BC -1,549 BC season).



Smokebombs at Accrington. Smoky.

But hey, come on guys – has it really been a disappointing season? It’s an old cliché but we know we’d all have taken mid-table security in August if it had been offered to us, after the nightmare of 4 seasons in exile outside the 92.

And although there is one mentalist who rings up Radio Oxford after every game to say what a disgrace and a disaster this season has been (seriously though, what is that guy on?), I think most of us can say we’ve enjoyed it can’t we? Being a FL club, in the national media every weekend again. Picking up any newspaper’s sport section and knowing our results will be in there – not just in a small-type paragraph at the bottom of the page, but with it’s own little spot and probably featuring the goal scorers from the game as well. Simple pleasures.

Being mentioned every week on BBC’s Football League Show has been a revelation for me too. I don’t always stay up but I always tape it and watch the League 2 bit the next morning, and still give a little cheer to myself whenever our match highlights come on.



Clem & Claridge: BBC Oddbods.



Having the likes of that Clem fellow visit us to do a feature, then being talked about by Steve Claridge and that other nondescript bloke whilst also noticing the little Oxford badge behind their heads on the glass panel. Simple pleasures.

The simple pleasure too of adding to the collection of League grounds visited has been brilliant too (although many of the grounds do still seem to share a lot of the, err, shall we say ‘character’, of the non-league world). I’m now up to 65 of the current 92, if you’re interested.

Yeah, ok, so you say out loud to your mates that counting the grounds is really sad - but we all know that you’ve counted them too at one point and you probably know how many you’ve done as well, don’t pretend otherwise!

So today, as we near the end of that first season back in the league we are playing only for pride and respect for the other teams in the relegation battle, as our opponents Lincoln are still very much looking over their shoulder towards the chasm of non-league that we so greatly returned from last May.

So whereas for Lincoln the fingernail chomp is still very much in evidence – as Oxford fans we can start to sit back and think about next season’s cruise to the title.

Bring on the Swindon.


Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. And another Ha.