Oxford United secured back-to-back league wins for just the second time this season with a 2-1 victory over Ipswich.
Yanic Wildschut netted his first U’s goal in the first half but the promotion hopefuls leveled just three minutes later. However, a late Cameron Brannagan strike sealed the win.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Lineup and Formation
We use this talking point often but it certainly caused confusion before kickoff. Karl Robinson changed to a back five with Ciaron Brown, Elliott Moore and Sam Long as the central defenders and Brandon Fleming and Djavan Anderson as attacking wingbacks.
The midfield three of Marcus McGuane, Lewis Bate and Brannagan remained the same but the U’s boss opted for two up top in Wildschut and Billy Bodin, despite having Matty Taylor, Kyle Joseph and Gatlin O’Donkor on the bench.
Fairly Even Contest
In tricky conditions (which we’ll get to shortly), both sides gave a good account of themselves and it was an entertaining contest. Simon Eastwood made two saves from efforts that came outside the box while both sides looked to stretch the width throughout the game.
So much so that Wildschut and Bodin, who are naturally more wide men than strikers, found themselves in the outer areas, although the formation worked with supporting players.
Wildschut took his goal well, bursting through the midfield before clipping the ball over the goalkeeper, but the U’s will be disappointed about the equaliser after the attacker was left with a free header from a right-sided cross.
However, Oxford continued to push and Brannagan’s long range effort sailed past the goalkeeper to earn a valuable three points, despite the visitors hitting the bar and seeing an effort cleared off the line late on.
Weather
There seems to be common theme where the weather is concerned when Ipswich travel to Grenoble Road. Recently, the pitch was almost waterlogged as the two sides played out a goalless draw and the fog in today’s contest was also a tricky take.
The fog was there at the start of the game but it got worse as the event went on, so much so that it appeared the referee could have abandoned the match.
Fortunately for Oxford, he didn’t, and the U’s ran out 2-1 winners.
