Oxford United chairman Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth wrote the following notes in his column in the Peterborough United programme:
I want to start by thanking you all for your magnificent support against Sunderland last weekend. When you get a big crowd, it does not always follow that you get a big atmosphere, but from the moment the teams came out you were very loud and really supported the players. When we went a goal behind you got even louder. You deserve a lot of the credit for the way the players responded and in the end the support paid off with a very good equaliser and a deserved point.
I want to single out one moment that summed the day up. Jerome Sinclair showed strong determination to win the ball before our goal, and then good skill to get round another challenge. On his home debut, in front of the home fans and against his former club, he still had the presence of mind to pass the ball to Marcus Browne rather than take the shot himself. That was very calm and very unselfish and I think typical of the spirit that runs through the squad. All the new players have been welcomed and have fitted in very well and I think the character will really shine through in the remaining games this season.
A small word of warning though: the way we played against Portsmouth, Barnsley and Sunderland was very encouraging, but we have to have the same intensity today against another promotion chasing side, and then in every game from here until the end of the season. We are playing well but cannot ease up because we are still in a very difficult position.
I heard Niall McWilliams say there will be ‘bumps in the road’ for us and I think he is correct. Our intentions have always been the same: a successful club and an exciting team playing good football to big crowds every week. Running a football club is a big challenge and we haven’t always got things right in our first year, but those bumps in the road are getting smaller now and there are exciting times ahead. Our under-23 side had a very good win over Hull City this week just to show once again that the future is very bright.
A crowd of over 10,000 last week shows what we can achieve, but I imagine we will lose 3,000 fans from that today. Those missing fans must surely have enjoyed the drama and the performance last weekend? Can we do more to get them along to games more regularly? Can we make coming to games something they do week after week? We will do our best to encourage it, but everyone here today can help. We have some massive games coming up, especially at home. As we saw last week, support and encouragement can be crucial, so spread the word, bring people along, and everyone play their part in helping Oxford United stay in League 1 and then learn from this season and really grow.