Oxford United have missed out on a chance to win promotion to the Championship for the first time since 1999.
The U’s dominated their League One playoff final match against Wycombe but, despite ending the game with over 70% possession, still lost the game.
Ultimately, both of the Chairboys’ goals came from Oxford mistakes. Manager Karl Robinson spoke after the game about his sides performance and the errors which helped the opposition to victory.
Speaking to the clubs’ official website, he said: “I’m extremely proud of them as you can well imagine. We were done by an early goal that you might expect to come from the opposition but the longer the game went I thought our players played wonderfully well but missed some important chances at key moments.
“Congratulations to Wycombe but for me, we probed and just didn’t take our chances. The mistakes that we made were what cost us.
“The goals we conceded will stay with me and the second one was like slow motion. If Marcus Browne doesn’t ask for the throw-in then he is in on goal, then one long ball, something we spoke about, and we were punished.
“I thought my players for 95% of the game asked questions and showed bravery but the game sometimes isn’t fair.
“But we will come back in on Wednesday and we will start again. Where we go next season is something we will look at over the next few days but right now this is as low as it gets.
“We will make decisions on what is right for this club. We overachieved this year with a young team full of very talented individuals. We lost so many players this year but we hung in there and so nearly achieved what we set out to do.
“My players never let me down all season and we should be proud of how far we have come over the last 12 months”
Rebuilding a squad ready for next season will also be a major challenge. With four loan players returning to their parent clubs, along with the possibility of three or four first-team players heading elsewhere in the summer, there is a lot of work ahead.
Then, of course, there is the division. With bitter rivals Swindon Town gaining promotion, along with Plymouth Argyle and Crewe Alexandra, there are tough teams in the league. Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth and Peterborough United, among others, will be desperate to secure promotion, as will the three sides that come down from the Championship.
