PREVIEW Derby County v Oxford United

The big kick off is here. Full preview

29 July 2022

Oxford United kick off the new Sky Bet League 1 campaign away at Derby County on Saturday (3pm)

TEAM NEWS

United, boosted by the news that Cameron Brannagan has signed a new three-year deal to stay at the club, have Alex Gorrin, Elliott Moore and Sam Long available again after injury while Ed McGinty, Stuart Findlay, Ciaron Brown and Josh Murphy are all included in the squad after signing in the summer.

Former Derby striker Sam Baldock and new signing Yanic Wildschut are missing for the U's and are both likely to miss the first two months of the season with Baldock recovering from a thigh injury and Wildschut damaging a hamstring on his debut against AFC Wimbledon last weekend.

THE OPPOSITION

Derby return to the third tier for the first time since 1986 - United were two divisions above them at that time - and face the U's for the first time since 1994.

“It makes me anxious that people think we are going to walk this league. There’s a lot of very good teams in this league, including Oxford.” Interim Manager Liam Rosenior said.

Former Republic of Ireland international forward and new signing David McGoldrick will be unavailable for the tie:

“Because of the numbers of the squad, he’s got a small niggle, and he won’t be available for tomorrow" Rosenior confirmed. "I’m not willing to risk that and lose a player of David’s quality to the group.”

With 30,000 fans there, Rosenior believes the support can play a massive part for the Rams this season. “They gave us an extra 10 points last season, especially at home” he said

TICKETS

The away area is SOLD OUT and none will be available on the day

The club is compiling a 'waiting list' for tickets that are returned before matchday. If you would like to go on the waiting list, or if you can no longer attend but would like a refund and for those tickets to be available for other fans then call 01865 337533

A limited number of places remain on the London Road coaches

London Road Coaches

Depart: Stadium 10:30
Depart: Kidlington Sainsbury's 10:45

Adult LRC member: £20
Adult non-member: £23

Under 18 LRC member: £18
Under 18 non-member: £21

These are available from oufctickets.co.uk or by calling 01865 337533

Discounted LRC membership is available now until 31 October at £5 for supporters who have purchased a 22/23 season ticket. The price after this time and for non-season ticket holders is £10.

Coach tickets are £3 cheaper for LRC members, so the membership soon pays for itself, even for occasional travellers.

For the safety and comfort of supporters, all those travelling are asked to abide by the rules which are:

• Under-14s must be accompanied by a responsible adult to travel on LRC transport.

• No alcohol is permitted on the coaches.

The London Road Club asks all supporters to have respect for their fellow passengers and will not tolerate any misbehaviour

COLOURS

United will be wearing their new yellow kit for the first time in a competitive fixture. CLICK HERE to get yours...

SUPPORTERS GUIDE

The Oxford United Supporters Panel has produced this guide for travelling fans:

Derby Away Fans Guide.pdf

HEAR IT LIVE

You can hear the whole game live in iFollow with commentary from our friends at BBC Oxford Sport or see it all live if you are overseas, plus highlights to follow.

We have coverage on Twitter, Instagram and a report and Gallery right here on the final whistle.

Match Previews

Match Reports

REPORT Derby County 1 Oxford United 0

U's beaten by Rams on opening day. Full time report

30 July 2022

Oxford United kicked off their 2022/23 league campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Derby County this afternoon.

A close game was decided with ten minutes to go by a Conor Hourihane strike that lifted the roof on a packed Pride Park and sent the huge travelling Yellow Army home to Oxford disappointed.

If any of the following 45 games kick off in a better atmosphere then we are in for a tremendous season. Derby fans sang ‘we’ve got our club back’, United fans welcomed Cameron Brannagan home and the players responded with a frantic first few minutes that saw Simon Eastwood have to catch a Max Bird header and Billy Bodin flick an effort wide at the other end before we had reached five minutes.

The game settled down after that. Marcus Browne held the key in attack, playing as a number 10 and linking things together between James Henry, Billy Bodin and Matty Taylor, while the superb Stuart Findlay looked very assured in defence on his debut - a recovery tackle on 28 minutes to rob the lively Nathanial Mendez-Laing a highlight.

United used 26 different combinations in defence last season and unsurprisingly found clean sheets elusive. Today they looked solid, helped by Brannagan and Marcus McGuane forming a two-man shield in front of them. Efforts from Taylor and Henry saw them ask questions at one end, while Derby’s one real sight of Eastwood’s goal came after 38 minutes and saw the keeper made a good save from Mendez-Laing.

300722 derby 1st (2).jpg

Early cards for Browne and James Collins in the second half underlined the spiky nature of the game, with ref Anthony Backhouse doing well to stop things from boiling over. Meanwhile, back at the game, Bodin saw a rising effort saved by keeper Joe Wildsmith and Eastwood made a good save from Collins.

United started to drop deeper and chances began to dry up for them. They were indebted once again to Findlay for another block from Mendez-Laing, but eventually Hourihane broke hearts with a thumping drive from the edge of the box with ten minutes left to give the Rams all three points.

Both sides will get sharper over the next few weeks, but United's customary work rate was there to see and an opening day win is rare - five years now since the last one. Time to bounce back as they welcome Cambridge next weekend for the first home game of the season.

Att: 31,053
Away: 3,147

Report by Chris Williams, Pictures by Steve Daniels, Steve Edmunds, Darrell Fisher. Stats by OPTA

Ticket News

Derby County SOLD OUT

Sold out away end for season opener

26 July 2022

Our entire allocation of tickets for the Sky Bet League 1 season opener at Derby County has now SOLD OUT