PREVIEW Oxford United v Plymouth Argyle

A full guide to Saturday's big game

12 October 2018

Oxford United welcome Plymouth Argyle to Grenoble Road on Saturday. Here we have a full guide to the big game.

Team News

The U's look to build on a hard fought point at Southend last weekend and pick up just their second home win of the season.

Both Simon Eastwood and Samir Carruthers made their returns from injury in the Checkatrade Trophy game against Northampton on Tuesday and are in contention for a first league start since the opening day of the season while Marcus Browne made a cameo appearance from the bench on Tuesday and could be a possible replacement for Gavin Whyte who is away with Northern Ireland.

Curtis Nelson, Josh Ruffels, Jon Obika and John Mousinho all dropped out of the starting eleven in midweek but could earn recalls.

See Ruffels, Mousinho and Karl Robinson previewing the game in iFollow right now.

The Opposition

Plymouth, like the U's have had injury problems this season but Antoni Sarcevic, Jamie Ness and Conor Grant all came back into the side for the midweek Checkatrade game along with defender Niall Canavan but former United duo Joe Riley and Ryan Taylor remain sidelined. Another former United player, Ashley Smith-Brown is likely to feature though as boss Derek Adams targets all three points.

He told the Plymouth Herald: “It’s a chance for us to get closer to the teams above us. We have picked up four points in the last week of the league campaign.We would like to try and win against Oxford to then pull in more teams above us and try and get ahead of a few.”

“(Oxford) have got a vastly experienced team and have taken in a good number of players over the summer period. They are probably like ourselves, in a position where we don’t feel that we should be.”

Tickets

Tickets remain on sale for this game- you can buy online at oufctickets.co.uk or call 01865 337533 as well as buying at the ticket office up until kick off time.

Please note that the barrier will be in place behind the North Stand so there will be no transfer between the ends of the ground behind that stand.

From the Dressing Room

Join the 125th celebrations

Home and Away programme

PARKING

Following a full review of car parking on matchdays we kindly ask supporters in the numbered bays in the car park immediately in front of the stadium (Car Park A) to wait at least fifteen minutes after the final whistle before moving their cars. Everyone affected has been contacted directly about this.

Away Fans

If you are a Plymouth fan travelling to the game then a full Supporters Guide is available here: OUFCAwayDayInfo.pdf Don't forget that there is a special away version of the matchday programme with additional information for visiting supporters.

Club Shop

The Club Shop has taken stock of all sizes of the brilliant new away shirt. Why not call in before the game to grab a yellow or blue shirt? Or you can order online at oufcshop.co.uk

Polythene UK 50/Fifty Draw

There will be another big prize in thes half time draw where half the money raised goes to one lucky winner. Tickets cost just £1 and our sellers are all around the ground.

Family

Oxford United pride ourselves on providing a great atmosphere for families to enjoy. We have a full Family Guide to games available HERE: OUFC Family Guide

Family Room

The Family Room is open for all Saturday home games and features activities and games for young fans plus a chance to meet players before kick-off. It is free to join the fun and you can find it in the corner of the South and East Stands from 1.30pm onwards

Coverage

iFollow is available with the full game LIVE to see wherever you are. There will also be reaction from the key men after the game, and you can follow all the action on Twitter at @OUFCOfficial.

Match Previews

Match Reports

REPORT Oxford United 2 Plymouth Argyle 0

U's back to winning ways. Full time report

13 October 2018

Goals from former Plymouth pair Jamie Mackie and Curtis Nelson earned Oxford United a fully deserved 2-0 win this afternoon at Grenoble Road. The U's returned to winning ways in a performance full of character and determination, lifting themselves off the bottom of the table and leapfrogging their opponents in the process.

In such an important game an early goal from Man of the Match Mackie was the perfect start. It owed plenty to the excellent James Henry, whose run took him past two defenders before he slipped the ball through for Mackie. With just Matt Macey in front of him, Mackie fired across the keeper with a low finish and United had a priceless early lead.

They might have extended it with the magnificent Marcus Browne drilling an effort wide after his free kick had been blocked by the wall on 22, but the on-loan West Ham man was causing so many problems with his pace and power, with the moment of the first half seeing him win a tackle on the edge of his own box, charge forward and cross for Holmes who couldn’t get it on target (and was offside anyway).

Plymouth saw a Graham Carey effort float well wide after a collision between Simon Eastwood and Rob Dickie and grew into the game. Stuart O’Keefe sent a decent chance into the car park and Eastwood made a good save from Freddie Ladapo in first-half injury time, but the U’s were good value for their lead at the break and that little spell before the interval was to prove Plymouth's best period of the 90 minutes.

United might have doubled their lead soon after the break: an awkward swirling effort from Henry touched over after almost catching out Macey and McMahon and Dickie both joining the attack but unable to get efforts on target. Browne had tormented his marker for an hour before being replaced by Shandon Baptiste, who carried on the good work, but both Henry and Holmes were also in impish mood and proving very hard to stop by a Plymouth back line having to also deal with Mackie, who never stopped running for the cause.

At the other end, Nelson typified the determination of the whole back line to stop the Pilgrims' progress and keep a clean sheet, but both full-backs McMahon and Josh Ruffels had excellent games alongside the fiercely competitive Nelson and Dickie. Ruffels found time to join the attack but was unable to volley a McMahon cross on target, while a curling effort from Henry was tipped round the post by Macey after 70 minutes as United looked for a second goal that would surely seal victory.

That goal finally came with 15 minutes left and owed plenty to Mackie's selfless set up. Through on goal and with his second United goal there for the taking, Mackie instead waited till the keeper came to him then rolled it to his right for Nelson to fire home and make it 2-0 and just about end the argument for the afternoon.

That was further settled with nine minutes left when the whole thing got just too much for Yann Songo'o who piled into Mackie and was promptly shown a second yellow card/red card combination by ref Andy Woolmer.

Plymouth's ten men were beaten and United had a crucial win under their belts. A good win, a fine performance, and now they need to build from this and win plenty more battles to come. But for now, enjoy.

Att:7,332

Away:1,285

Report by Chris Williams, pictures by Steve Daniels, stats by OPTA

Match Reports

Standings

From the Dressing Room

Join the 125th celebrations

Home and Away programme