CM 03/04: Oxford United

[Katon]

Being in England, I got my copy of CM 03/04 this morning, so here's my first game. I'm running Oxford United in England's Third Division with real players and a selection of Europe's top leagues in the background. If anyone has any questions or suggestions for the format, please speak up.

[Katon]

No sooner am I appointed manager of Oxford than I am told that “The Oxford board cannot afford to let you have any funds at the moment because of the club’s precarious financial state”. Oh dear. Eager to get the bad news over with, I take a look at said precarious finances. The first thing that jumps out – apart from the fact that we’ll be paying back a £3 million loan to the bank for the next eight years – is the wage budget: £18,750 p/w. The current wage bill? £25,847 p/w. Time for a makeover, I think.

Why a team with our financial difficulties has twelve players earning at least £1000/week I will never know. The biggest culprit is Irish defender Paul McCarthy, who is unexceptional, 31, and drawing £2,500/week. I immediately start shopping him around. Strikers Julian Alsop and Emanuel Omoyinmi, goalie Andy Woodman, defensive midfielder David Waterman, and left-back Matt Robinson are also offered to all and sundry, hopefully to earn four-figure salaries elsewhere.

Within days, the Oxford Mail is reporting that Woodman, McCarthy, and Alsop are upset with the lack of support they’re receiving from me. Tough luck.

It fairly quickly becomes apparent that nobody else is interested in paying my six players vastly more than they deserve either. I manage to offload Omoyinmi (worthwhile just so I don’t have to type that name all year) and Robinson, but I can’t even shift the other four for free.

Since I’m not likely to sign anyone while five thousand pounds over my weekly budget, I'm pretty much stuck with the squad I inherited.


17th in English Third Division
Squad Screen

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position(s) | Form | Morale | Cond. | Apps | Av R | Value |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Cox, S | GK | 5-7-9-6| Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB1 | Lst | Woodman, A | GK | | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Woodman is still with us, in spite of my best efforts; he’s on roughly the same level as Steve Cox, and I’m not sure which of them should be starting. Cox has done enough in the friendlies to earn the job for now.


| DR | | McNiven, S | D R | 3-7-5-7| Okay | 99% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | Ashton, J | D LC | 7-7-6-7| Okay | 99% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Bound, M* | D C | 5-6-7-7| Okay | 99% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Crosby, A* | D C | 8-8-6 | Good | 71% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB2 | Lst | McCarthy, P | D C | 6-6 | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Waterman, D | D/DM C | | Okay | 39% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Scott McNiven is a good right-back, one of our better players; he’s locked into a starting role, especially considering that none of our other right-backs are first-team material.

Jonathan Ashton is only 20, but looks very, very good. He’s hard-working, in excellent shape, and a superb tackler. He could probably start in the middle if we had a decent left-back. Since Matt Robinson left, however, we don’t have anyone else at the position who looks like starter material.

Matthew Bound is the classic English giant centre-back. He’s big, he’s strong, and he doesn’t lose in the air. On paper, he’s a definite starter; on the field, he hasn’t looked quite so good thus far, but has done enough to keep starting.

Andy Crosby is the classic Welsh giant centre-back. He and Bound are practically identical: both the same style of player, both 30 years old, and both starting for us.

Paul McCarthy is our fourth-best centre-back and drawing our highest wage. With luck, someone will take him off my hands.

In spite of my attempts to sell him, David Waterman is actually a fairly good player. If any of our wage cuts are going to play their way back onto the squad, my money’s on him. He’s a lockdown marker and an impressive tackler, but just a bit too mediocre at everything else for me to start him. Still, he’s our main defensive backup.



| | | Wanless, P | DM C | 7-7-6-7| Good | 98% | - | ---- | £75K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | Wnt | Whitehead, D | DM C | 7-7 | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | Inj | Brown, D | M LC | 6-8-7-7| Okay | 85% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB3 | | Hunt, J | M C | 6-7-7 | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £24K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | Wnt | Townsley, D | D/AM RC | 6-7-6-7| Okay | 96% | - | ---- | £35K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| MR | | Hackett, C | AM R | 7-7-7-8| Okay | 99% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Paul Wanless is the type of hard-working, not overly talented player you normally get playing defensive midfield. I wouldn’t panic if he wound up starting, but I’m not wild about him.

Dean Whitehead is a similar player to Wanless, but gets the start for two reasons: first, there are some hints of actual skill in Whitehead’s game (especially when standing over a dead ball) and second, he’s 21 as opposed to 29. With luck, the playing time will do him some good.

Danny Brown is our left winger, and he’s the type of player you almost immediately forget about. He does everything well enough to start, nothing well enough to make him stand out. Good enough to start, but left midfield would be one of the first places I would spend money if I had any.

James Hunt is probably the best player on our bench. He’s a good passer, hard-working, and one of the most creative players on the team; he just plays the same position as Derek Townsley.

Derek Townsley is the crown jewel of Oxford United. He can play right-back, right winger, and centre-back well enough to start, but he’ll normally line up as our attacking midfielder. Good at just about everything, he’s even attracted some interest from Leeds.

Chris Hackett can cross fairly well, can dribble, can run fast, and that’s about it. As fast as he runs, however, that’s a fairly impressive it. He’s been one of our key players so far in the preseason. His repeated ability to skin a defender for pace and then cut into the area has been one of our main sources of chances.


| FC | | Rawle, M | F RC | 7-7-6-5| Okay | 95% | - | ---- | £26K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | Wnt | Brooks, J | F C | 6 | Okay | 91% | - | ---- | £35K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB5 | Lst | Alsop, J | S C | 6-7 | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £18K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Basham, S* | S C | 6-8-6 | Okay | 100% | - | ---- | £45K |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Mark Rawle is as fast as Hackett and the second-best finisher on our team. He’s the only clear starter up front.

19-year-old Jamie Brooks is the sharpest shot on the team, but the rest of his game hasn’t quite caught up yet. He’s a similar player to Rawle, if slower, and will probably back Rawle up most of the time.

Julian Alsop is a big, bruising centre-forward in the Emile Heskey mode. As the worst shot among our stable of strikers, however, his size and strength probably aren’t enough to make him a regular part of the team.

Steve Basham is a similar player to Alsop, but he’s got an extra yard of pace that nets him the second starting spot.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Good luck! I'll be reading with interest!

[Katon]

Our preseason goes very well. We start out by losing 3-2 to Coventry, but considering that they’re two divisions higher than us and that we were ahead with three minutes to go, I’m not particularly upset. We then beat Conference side Shrewsbury 2-0 without much difficulty before squeaking out a 1-0 win over First Division team Preston. A boring 0-0 draw with Margate follows before we finish on a high, annihilating Second Division Brighton 4-0.

The next development comes when I receive the list of players whose contracts expire in the next year. No fewer than fifteen first team players are among them. Well, that’s one way to clear the wage bill. Having played a grand total of three friendlies with this lot, I’m not entirely sure who I’m going to want back next year. There is one name that stands out, however: Paul McCarthy will be off my back on June 30, 2004.

I also hear about the bookmakers’ odds on the Third Division promotion race. The favourites are Huddersfield and Northampton, both at 6-4; then come Cheltenham, Hull, and Scunthorpe at 7-4, before the list of contenders is rounded out by Oxford at 2-1. Yes, apparently we’re the sixth best team in the division. I hope they’re right; a playoff spot would do me fine under these financial constraints.

With just days to go before opening day, preseason opponents Brighton make an interesting offer. They want Jamie Brooks, who set up two of our goals against them; in exchange, they’re offering midfielder Charlie Oatway and £16,000. In spite of our cash problems, though, I turn it down. Brooks is very good for a 19-year-old, and Oatway looks like he would be our third choice in midfield behind Townsley and Hunt. Brooks is soon drawing more interest from big teams, though, with West Ham asking after him. I’m going to hang onto him as long as I can, but sooner or later someone’s going to come up with an irresistible bid.

Brooks isn’t the only Oxford player to be drawing interest from bigger clubs. Youth team defender Angus Mackay has been attracting bids of up to £40,000 with bad strikers thrown in. At the moment, Mackay is warring with Paul McCarthy to be fourth-choice centre-back; he’s only 17, though, and not really ready for first-team action. By the time he’s ready to start regularly, I’m either going to be managing Oxford a division higher (with luck) or managing someone else entirely. I could be induced to sell by the right offer.

Both Mackay and Brooks are starting, courtesy of injuries, when we open the season at home to Swansea. And it is Brooks who, with just three minutes gone, is put clear by Mark Rawle on a lightning counterattack. He doesn’t miss. We have the better of the rest of the first half, although Swansea do have a goal disallowed shortly before the break [incidentally, having an offside flag appear as soon as someone gets caught offside is a very good idea, and extremely calming to the manager whose defence has just wandered off]. Swansea are looking very vulnerable on the break, with Chris Hackett setting up Rawle for a few chances, none of which he takes. Still, our lead is never seriously endangered.
Oxford 1-0 Swansea

Shortly after the match, Millwall offer £85,000 for Angus Mackay. I accept. Mackay has a lot of potential, but he’s not going to achieve it for a good few years, and we really need the money.

[robbgmaier]

another loyal reader

go oxford...rah :)

[Desnudo]

Mmmm, waiting for my CM 03/04 in the mail. Do you play with full lower league rules?

[Katon]

Not exactly. I try not to take unfair advantage of quirks in the game engine or real life knowledge (not that I'm all that hot on the Third Division anyway), but I'm not as strict about it as out-and-out LLMs are.

[Katon]

Mackay agrees terms with Millwall, and we’re suddenly £85,000 richer. This is a good thing, of course, but it does leave us slightly weak at the back for our League Cup trip to Hull. Paul McCarthy fills in for the injured Crosby and Waterman. Our makeshift defence looks somewhat less than impressive, and finds itself depending on bad finishing and good goalkeeping from Steve Cox. I try switching formations, hoping to fix things; we promptly concede two goals. We start pouring forwards, trying to get the goals back; they score two more. A thorough disaster
Hull 4-0 Oxford

Immediately afterwards comes another big-money (by our standards) transfer bid. Rangers – yes, Glasgow Rangers – are offering £50,000 for Derek Townsley. Townsley is our best player and we’re in relatively good financial shape at the moment, so I turn them down. Townsley quickly expresses his disappointment not to be heading to the Scottish Premier League.

Our visit to Leyton Orient starts out well enough, with Chris Hackett restored to his usual energetic self, only to take a turn for the worse in the twelfth minute. Orient have a throw-in, which we promptly clear; the referee, however, has seen a shove by Paul Wanless some distance off the ball. Penalty. Goal. Within six minutes, however, we are level, Danny Brown’s cross running clear across the area for Hackett to slot home. We go ahead shortly before the break, David Waterman heading in Brown’s corner; we hang onto the lead, and clinch late on when Jamie Brooks crosses for Julian Alsop to head home.
Leyton Orient 1-3 Oxford

Our match against Torquay is a real thriller. One minute, they’re pounding away with a string of corners; the next, Chris Hackett is shooting over after a great solo run, or Mark Rawle is drawing a marvellous double save. The only thing missing is a goal. Unfortunately, said goal never comes.
Oxford 0-0 Torquay

On August 22, just a day before our game against Carlisle, Derek Townsley asks to be put on the transfer list. Evidently, he’s still upset over the Rangers thing. I accept – James Hunt can fill in at attacking midfield fairly well, and there’s not much point trying to hang onto someone who’s heart’s set on leaving – but I’m not letting him go for a penny less than £50,000.

The Carlisle match quickly develops into the most violent game of the season so far. Jamie Brooks is sent limping off after a quarter of an hour; half an hour in, Scott McNiven gets sent off for overly enthusiastic use of his elbow. McNiven has already missed one match due to a suspension incurred in preseason, and I’m getting worried enough to warn him about violent behaviour. The man disadvantage eventually hurts us, as we concede a Route One goal just after halftime when one of their strikers is allowed time and space to latch onto a sixty-yard pass and feed his partner. Ten minutes later, we return the favour, as Mark Rawle races clear and slams the ball into the roof of the net. We almost grab a winner, when Rawle sets up Steve Basham to round the keeper, but the linesman’s flag interferes. There’s still time for Hackett to have a shot cleared off the line, but the match ends one apiece.
Carlisle 1-1 Oxford

[Katon]

Derek Townsley has, it turns out, played his last game for Oxford. Wolves come in to meet my £50,000 price, and Townsley is off to play in the Premiership. The main problem of all this is that, with Scott McNiven heading into a three-match ban after his red against Oxford, my back-up right-back is Robert Lovegrove, who was transfer listed by my predecessor for, as far as I can tell, simply not being worth a place in the team. I share that opinion.

Sure enough, right-backs turn out to be key in the match against Southend. Theirs is important when his push on Danny Brown lets Mark Rawle have a chance to put us ahead from the spot. Unfortunately, Rawle’s kick owes more to rugby than to any type of football, and the scores stay level. Ours then emerges into prominence when he gets lured out of position and we concede a goal to a cross from the empty flank. The match continues for half an hour, and I’m on the verge of taking the ineffective Rawle off when he suddenly pressures their keeper into making a horrible clearance, collects Steve Basham’s header, and fires low into the net. Rawle then goes on to grab a late winner, tapping in Basham’s cross on a quick counterattack with just five minutes left. Lovegrove, incidentally, has a great game after his initial slip.
Oxford 2-1 Southend

Our game with York gets off to a rather slow start. The most interesting thing in the first half is when Jonathan Hunt gets kicked hard and starts limping. He’s replaced at half-time, and the game keeps going along the same lines. The only real excitement comes within ten minutes of the restart, as Steve Basham sweeps home a Danny Brown cross to put us ahead only for the linesman to interfere.
York 0-0 Oxford

We follow up the York match with an extremely similar performance against Mansfield. There isn’t much happening, but when it does happen it’s normally around their goal. The main difference is that this time Jamie Brooks, just two minutes after coming on for Basham, heads home a Rawle cross. Brooks returns the favour five minutes later, but Rawle heads wide from point-blank range. We then go right down the other end and let them equalize – on a cross from our right, incidentally. Robert Lovegrove keeps drawing kudos for his play, but it’s hard to forget that both goals we’ve conceded with him on the pitch have come from his flank.
Oxford 1-1 Mansfield

[Katon]

Our match against Yeovil gets off to a good start within nine minutes as Steve Basham is shoved over in the process of running onto a ball over the top. The referee interprets this as a professional foul and Yeovil are reduced to ten men. Half an hour in, the Yeovil keeper makes a complete mess of a long-range shot by Mark Rawle, giving us the lead. They aren’t completely dead – Simon Cox makes an excellent stop in much the same situation we scored from, and they miss a complete sitter after an hour – but we hold on, and are unlucky not to score again on the counterattack toward the end as they grow desperate.
Yeovil 0-1 Oxford

Macclesfield are next-to-last, and they play like it. We are, in fact, so dominant that when Jonathan Ashton gets hurt after half an hour I switch to a 3-4-3 in hope of boosting our goal difference (and also because I don’t have any left-backs on the bench). When we finally take the lead in first-half injury time, however, it isn’t any of our strikers who score; instead, it’s Andy Crosby volleying home Danny Brown’s corner. Then Jamie Brooks (on for Ashton) has a shot parried right to Rawle and it’s game over. The only disappointment is that goalkeeping miracles from Aston Villa reject Boaz Myhill keep us to only two goals.
Oxford 2-0 Macclesfield

The game against Rochdale stretches our unbeaten start to ten games. In theory, they are a fairly good team, currently in the top half of the table, but the biggest problem Simon Cox faces in the first half is not falling asleep. Sadly, apart from a brief flurry at the start, their goalie has much the same problem.
Rochdale 0-0 Oxford

After Rochdale, we face another team right outside the playoff zone in Darlington. The match gets off to a good start when Andy Crosby is shoved over at a corner, gets up, and converts the penalty for his second goal in three games. The game then stalls for forty-five minutes before Chris Hackett races onto a Scott McNiven throw, fakes the keeper out, and slams the ball into the roof of the net. We aren’t two up for long, though, before a marvellous drive from thirty yards out cuts our lead in half. Within two minutes of that, however, Hackett gets to the byline and crosses for Mark Rawle to score our third.
Oxford 3-1 Darlington

After the Darlington win, we are the only unbeaten team in the league, although our five draws have resulted in our only being placed fourth, outside the promotion zone. That unbeaten record faces its biggest challenge so far, however, as we travel to fifth-placed Cambridge. In fact, when Andy Crosby gets lured out of position to let them take the lead two minutes in, things look bad. Before I have time to worry about that, though, we’ve seen Chris Hackett acquire a bad limp and conceded a second to boot. I cheer up momentarily ten minutes later when Mark Rawle, moved out to the right to replace Hackett, sets up a great chance for Jamie Brooks, but Brooks misses and the gloom returns.
Cambridge 2-0 Oxford

I shake things up badly for the Vans Trophy tie with Wycombe, and for half an hour it looks like the changes have helped. We’ve been outmatching our Second Division for most of the match when suddenly they grab the lead through striker Jonny Dixon. Seven minutes later, however, Julian Alsop (one of the changes from Saturday) heads on a long clearance, their defender can’t quite intercept, and Jamie Brooks snaps out of his slump long enough to equalize. Wycombe then start coming at us strong, but the next blow is struck right after the break when Paul Wanless launches a clearance towards their penalty area, the goalie comes to collect, and Alsop gets there first. Ten minutes later Alsop crosses for Brooks, and we’re going to the next round. Brooks then goes onto complete his hat-trick – more goals than he scored in all our other games combined – from a Chris Hackett cross. We hang on for a win that completely erases the memory of our disaster at Hull in our last cup match.
Oxford 4-1 Wycombe

The second round draw turns up a chance for revenge: Cambridge, who just beat us, will be coming to the Kassam Stadium (our home stadium) in mid-November.

[SirFozzie]

Sorry, man, I'm rooting for the CAM-BER-IDGE! :)

[Fonzie]

Katon, you've got another fan here. Nice work!

[Katon]

I decide to leave the team unchanged for the visit of Bury; they don’t repeat their performance. We outplay them, but it’s substitute Mark Rawle who winds up making the winner, crossing for Jamie Brooks to score late on.
Oxford 1-0 Bury

For the first time this season, we warrant a mention in the monthly awards. We don’t actually win anything, but Neil Maddison’s goal for Darlington a few weeks back is declared to be the Goal of the Month. If you were to listen to the press, you’d never know we were fourth.

Our trip to Scunthorpe starts out frenetically. Both defenses are giving away chances, but a combination of poor finishing and top-notch goalkeeping keeps the ball out of both nets for over half an hour before Mark Rawle converts a one-on-one with the keeper. We can’t add to the lead, though, and they equalize right after half-time when a sloppy parry by Simon Cox gives them two attempts at heading in a corner. They’re looking much improved in the second half, and it’s against the run of play when Rawle restores our advantage by heading in a Jamie Brooks cross. We can’t hang onto this lead either, though. Scott McNiven has looked hopelessly outmatched all day against former Premiership star Peter Beagrie, and Beagrie takes advantage of the space he’s winning to curl in a shot from thirty yards out that might make it two consecutive Goals of the Month against us. Cue the collapse. There are only nineteen minutes left, but that’s enough time for Brooks to get sent off for elbowing and for Andy Crosby and Dean Whitehead to combine to gift them a winner.
Scunthorpe 3-2 Oxford

In our next game against Hull, Steve Basham seems determined to make me regret Brooks’ absence even more. Their defence hands him several chances with misplaced clearances; he can’t even hit the target once. It takes an incredible amount of ineptitude to be summarily taken off in favour of Julian Alsop, but Basham manages it. If it were not for him, we would have managed revenge for our League Cup humiliation.
Oxford 0-0 Hull

Slumping third division team drawn away to non-league side: you can practically feel the FA Cup upset coming, can’t you? Hayes certainly can, going ahead just after half-time. With Chris Hackett in brilliant form, we look like equalizing; unfortunately, Mark Rawle and assistant manager David Oldfield, being given a chance to secure the role of third-choice striker, prove completely unable to win a simple header.
Hayes 1-0 Oxford

I am now completely disgusted with all our backup strikers. None of them have looked even remotely useful so far this season. In fact, I am so disgusted as to begin thinking about adding to the already groaning wage bill. We’re still over £3,000 p/w over budget, but if I can loan someone in at a low enough cost . . .

Our next cup tie starts somewhat better than the last, as within six minutes Julian Alsop has launched a long ball, the defence has misread it, and Danny Brown has finished off the resulting chance. Brown then turns around and plants a corner on the head of Matthew Bound to put Cambridge two goals behind less than fifteen minutes in. Things go downhill from there, though. They get the two goals back before half-time, and then start injuring all our best attackers. Mark Rawle and Chris Hackett are both forced to limp off. Neither side can get a winner; the match winds up going to penalties. In a bizarre sequence of events, only three of the nine penalties wind up being scored. Fortunately, two of them are taken by Andy Crosby and substitute right-winger Tom Winters.
Oxford 2-2 Cambridge (2-1 on penalties)

After the match, I get some good news, some bad news, and some more good news. In order: first, neither Hackett nor Rawle have suffered any lasting damage; second, our next Auto Windscreens tie is away to Second Division Colchester; third, Northampton striker Derek Asamoah is coming in on loan. Asamoah isn’t the greatest finisher, admittedly, but he looks like a better player than Alsop or Basham and since we only have to contribute £210/week to his wages it seems like a good gamble.

Asamoah gets off to a good start, but it’s our old attackers who win the match against Doncaster. We start out when Chris Hackett skins a defender, cuts inside, and crosses for Mark Rawle to score. Shortly after half-time, Hackett beats the defender again, this time opting to finish himself. In spite of Scott McNiven giving away an injury-time penalty, we manage to hold on for the win.
Doncaster 1-2 Oxford

Relegation-threatened Kidderminster are our next stop, and we need just seven minutes to take the lead, Asamoah crossing for James Hunt. With our offence still looking tired from Saturday, we have trouble adding to the lead; we do manage another one late, Hunt taking advantage of poor defending at a free kick, and that’s all we need. He later goes on to complete his hat-trick from a corner.
Kidderminster 0-3 Oxford

Asamoah is too tired to play against his nominal owners Northampton, so we return to the old partnership of Brooks and Rawle up front. It works, too: Brooks crosses for Rawle, and we’re 1-0 up half an hour in. Brooks adds a second late on from Danny Brown’s cross to give us our first three-match winning streak under my management.
Oxford 2-0 Northampton


Holders - Rushden


| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | | Cheltenham | | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 6 | +22 | 43 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | | Torquay | | 18 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 15 | +21 | 39 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | | Hull | | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 35 | 12 | +23 | 38 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Cambridge | | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 21 | +15 | 36 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Oxford | | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 11 | +13 | 36 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Lincoln | | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 19 | +17 | 34 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | | Southend | | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 32 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Swansea | | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 44 | 26 | +18 | 31 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Huddersfield | | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 16 | +3 | 31 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th | | York | | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 29 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th | | Scunthorpe | | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 29 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th | | Doncaster | | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 29 | 18 | +11 | 28 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th | | Leyton Orient | | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 21 | 25 | -4 | 24 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th | | Bury | | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 24 | -5 | 22 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th | | Darlington | | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 20 | -8 | 22 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th | | Bristol Rovers | | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 26 | -6 | 21 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th | | Rochdale | | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 21 | -5 | 20 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th | | Yeovil | | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 22 | 44 | -22 | 15 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th | | Northampton | | 18 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 21 | -10 | 14 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th | | Boston Utd | | 18 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 33 | -17 | 13 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 21st | | Macclesfield | | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 26 | -16 | 12 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 22nd | | Mansfield | | 18 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 33 | -13 | 11 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 23rd | | Kidderminster | | 18 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 23 | 52 | -29 | 11 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 24th | | Carlisle | | 18 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 21 | 49 | -28 | 9 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Katon]

Now that it’s the start of December, I think it’s time to think about all the contracts due to expire this off-season. First, let’s take a look at the first-team squad:


5th in English Third Division
Squad Screen

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Pass | Tck | Drb | Sh Tar | Av R | Value|
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Lst | Alsop, J | 4 (6) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 63 % | - | 0.45 | 50 % | 6.20 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB5 | | Asamoah, D | 2 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 83 % | 2.42 | 4.23 | 33 % | 7.00 | £50K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | Yel | Ashton, J | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 % | 3.41 | 0.69 | - | 7.00 | £20K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | Basham, S* | 10 (2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 73 % | 0.21 | 0.94 | 50 % | 6.25 | £40K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Bound, M* | 17 (1) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 70 % | 2.20 | 0.12 | 100 % | 6.61 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB4 | | Brandish, M | 2 (5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 77 % | 2.45 | 0.82 | - | 6.43 | £10K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Brooks, J | 10 (6) | 7 | 4 | 2 | 73 % | 1.12 | 0.26 | 91 % | 6.63 | £35K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | | Brown, D | 19 (2) | 1 | 6 | 0 | 69 % | 2.67 | 0.87 | 42 % | 6.81 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Cox, S | 22 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 47 % | - | - | - | 6.50 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB2 | | Crosby, A | 7 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 74 % | 2.23 | - | 100 % | 6.91 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MR | | Hackett, C | 22 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 54 % | 3.83 | 4.52 | 63 % | 7.41 | £22K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | | Hunt, J* | 18 (2) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 75 % | 2.48 | 0.17 | 71 % | 6.85 | £24K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DR | Wnt | McNiven, S | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 58 % | 3.13 | 0.80 | 50 % | 6.29 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Rawle, M | 17 (5) | 10 | 3 | 1 | 68 % | 1.45 | 1.28 | 65 % | 6.82 | £28K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB3 | | Wanless, P | 3 (4) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 71 % | 1.53 | 0.51 | 100 % | 6.71 | £65K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | Lst | Waterman, D | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 74 % | 2.03 | 0.11 | 75 % | 6.67 | £18K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | Wnt | Whitehead, D | 19 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 % | 2.79 | 0.25 | 36 % | 6.95 | £22K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB1 | Lst | Woodman, A | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | £9K |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


The players whose contracts expire this summer are Woodman, Basham, Bound, Brandish, Brooks, Brown, Cox, Crosby, Hackett, Hunt, McNiven, Rawle, Wanless, and Whitehead. Hey, it’s only fourteen players.

The simplest decision to make is Chris Hackett, who has been the second-best player in the league this season. He gets another contract. Mark Rawle, among the top five goalscorers in the league, is another easy call. Brooks, Brown, and Cox are also obvious decisions, being fairly cheap (three digits/week) and regular starters. On the other hand, Andy Woodman and Steve Basham are both drawing four-figure salaries that they haven’t come close to justifying. Goodbye. Matthew Brandish, a youth player drafted in for midfield cover after Townsley’s departure, is cheap enough to merit resigning. The other decisions aren’t so easy.

To recap, the six difficult players are Matthew Bound, Andy Crosby, James Hunt, Scott McNiven, Paul Wanless, and Dean Whitehead. Bound and Crosby are both earning £1,500/week and both play the same position; the decision is probably one or the other. I’m going to delay on this decision until I’ve given Crosby a bit more playing time, I think. Wanless and Whitehead are in a similar position to Bound and Crosby, with the sole difference that Whitehead is clearly better than Wanless. My sole reservation here is the size of the raise Whitehead is after; I’ve offered him a cheaper contract, and I hope he’ll accept. Hunt and McNiven are both regular starters, but drawing over a thousand per, and not among the team’s stars. Hunt gets a new contract, I think, but McNiven’s horrible discipline – he’s already picked up five yellows and a red this season – mean that I’m inclined to look elsewhere for a right-back next season. He hasn’t shown enough this year to make me overlook the cards.

[tucker342]

just got caught up:)

I'm reading with interest

[klayman]

Poor Andy Woodman. He once lead my Bulls out of the conference all the way to the 1st division in consecutive seasons in CM 99/00. He was the most consistent gk I've ever had in all my CM games.

Good to see another CM dynasty by you Katon.

[Katon]

Woodman still doesn't look like a bad goalie, but he doesn't look any better than Steve Cox (who I think the match ratings are selling short - incidentally, this is one thing I like about the highlights, the way they let you form opinions of players that are a bit more independent of the ratings), and Woodman is being paid four times as much.

[Bee]

great dynasty, but man this is a slow pace! :D

[Katon]

I've either been sick or been catching up schoolwork from being sick all week. Tomorrow's a day off, though, so should be a good weekend.

[Katon]

Jamie Brooks rejects our contract offer; I’ll have another go. Hackett and Whitehead accept, though. Then the new contracts start being accepted in droves. I’ll come back at the end of the month and say who has yet to agree a deal.

Time for a trip to Colchester, looking for a place in the Vans Trophy Southern semifinals. They’re a division above us, and look it; it is us who open the scoring, however, with Hunt and Whitehead starting a break in midfield, Derek Asamoah skinning a defender, and Rawle slotting home the cross. We then return to the old pattern – them dominating us, lousy finishing keeping the ball out of our net – before Rawle latches onto a long clearance and, with two defenders in close attendance, scores from twenty yards out. Stung, Colchester come back and finally manage to score on their very next attack. The final blow of the half, however, comes on the verge of stoppage time when our first real spell of pressure ends with Asamoah going down on the edge of the area, then getting back up to convert the penalty. Within ten minutes of the restart, we’ve gotten a fourth, Matthew Bound nodding in a Whitehead corner; then things start to get worrying. Simon Cox, who has deserved a fair bit of credit for their inability to score more than one, suddenly stops being able to hold onto shots. They get to two rebounds first, and our lead is down to one. From this point, you can see the fourth coming. Just when extra time seems inevitable, however, substitute Jamie Brooks chases down a defender and crosses for a replica of the first goal, Rawle completing his hattrick with five minutes to go. Rawle still has time to hit the post in a completely insane match.
Colchester 4-5 Oxford

Well, that was interesting. Scott McNiven, who committed seven fouls and several positioning errors, might be on his way earlier than the end of his contract if I can find a good cheap right-back. We’ve been drawn at home to fellow Third Division side Northampton in the next round, so I think the Southern Final is looking very possible.

After the thrills and excitement of our trip to Colchester, our visit to Bristol Rovers is really rather tame. They are weaker in midfield than Colchester, but somewhat tighter at the back. We seem to have come back to earth since Wednesday, and the match’s first bit of flowing football takes over an hour to arrive before McNiven plays Hackett in down the flanks and Asamoah knocks in the ensuing cross. They manage an equalizer, though, when McNiven has to go to the sidelines for treatment, leaving a gaping space on the right side of our defence. It later develops that McNiven will miss two months with a shoulder injury.
Bristol Rovers 1-1 Oxford

Our game against Lincoln is a carbon copy of the Bristol match: we outplay them, tale the lead in the second half through Asamoah, they equalize, we can’t get a winner.
Oxford 1-1 Lincoln

Off to league leaders Cheltenham now. They’ve only conceded six goals all season, so when Jonathan Hunt gives away a penalty things don’t look good. They’ve been the class of the league and they play like it; another is added around the hour mark, and we never look like coming back.
Cheltenham 2-0 Oxford

Who do you want to play when you’re winless in three? Relegation contenders, of course, and Boston United fit the bill. We go ahead on 25 minutes, when an Andy Crosby header is parried to Mark Rawle, who volleys in. Asamoah adds our second from a Whitehead corner, then scores the third after good work by Rawle and Hackett down the flanks. Rawle rounds the keeper for his second with fifteen minutes to go, and within minutes Matthew Bound heads in a long throw.
Oxford 5-0 Boston Utd.

The end-of-year awards are then announced and, by an amazing coincidence, nobody wins two. For instance, World Player of the Year Ronaldo is shut out of the European awards, as are second- and third- placed Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy. *cough*BUG*cough*

Our New Year’s Day game against Swansea is end-to-end. We’ve already missed several good chances by the time they go ahead five minutes into the second half, but things gget even worse when our defence falls apart and hands Lee Trundle his hattrick. We give away two more goals in quick succession, with Robert Lovegrove’s backpass for the third particularly avoidable. Just for good measure, we give them a penalty. Can you tell I’m upset?
Swansea 4-0 Oxford

[Katon]

Of course, we aren’t involved in the FA Cup Third Round, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. Especially interesting is the day’s great news story, the tie between Stevenage and Leeds, which the Conference side wins 3-2. Our fellow Third Division team Torquay also deserves a mention for winning 4-2 away to Charlton.

We bounce back well from the Swansea defeat, tearing into Leyton Orient to such an extent that they’re lucky to hold out until the twelfth minute before Jamie Brooks converts a penalty given for a foul on Dean Whitehead. They’re looking completely outclassed, and still haven’t managed a shot on target when Derek Asamoah makes the points safe from a tight angle just after the hour. Mark Rawle scrambles in the third at a corner to complete the win.
Oxford 3-0 Leyton Orient

Off to Huddersfield now, and my decision to ignore the physiotherapist and play the supposedly-in-need-of-a-rest Chris Hackett is vindicated when Hackett skins his defender and cuts inside to give us the lead. The match then stalls until the hour mark, when Hackett (who else?) wins a penalty for us. Brooks converts, and we go on to win.
Huddersfield 0-2 Oxford

The recent hectic schedule finally catches up with us, and I have to rest several starters, including Hackett and Danny Brown, for the match with third-placed Torquay. Torquay aren’t really the best team to be missing our star player against. We’re left hanging on, and are indebted to Simon Cox for one amazing triple stop in particular. We weather the storm, though, and are just showing signs of coming back into the match when they take the lead from a half-cleared corner. We press, but are unable to find an equalizer.
Torquay 1-0 Oxford

It appears that Hackett, who came on at half-time, is still in need of a rest (though I can’t see any signs of exhaustion); I do intend to listen to my physio, but I keep Hackett in for the Vans Trophy tie with Northampton. It’s Derek Asamoah, though, who gives us the lead against his nominal owners. We can’t hold on, conceding an equalizer just after half-time, but no need to worry; Asamoah strikes again just before the hour mark. He then completes his hat-trick five minutes later, and we’re going through to the Southern final.
Oxford 3-1 Northampton

Now bottom-placed Carlisle are a good team to rest Hackett and Brown against. At least, until James Hunt gets himself sent off. We still manage a win, courtesy of makeshift right-winger Mark Rawle’s cross for Paul Wanless and Derek Asamoah’s late breakaway, but I have to wonder how many it could have been.
Oxford 2-0 Carlisle

Hackett and Brown are back for the trip to Southend, but it’s Matthew Bound who heads us ahead two minutes in from a long throw by Jonathan Ashton. Bound is rapidly becoming the favorite to earn a new contract ahead of Andy Crosby, whose inability to head a long ball clear is key to their equalizer. Hackett restores our lead from a Brown cross, though Ashton then takes his turn to misjudge a header and allow in an equalizer. They then go ahead from their own long throw, and I begin to wonder where this sudden vulnerability to long balls has come from. That was all in the first half; the second half is a nightmare.
Southend 6-2 Oxford

For the visit of York we welcome Scott McNiven back to a defence which is hopefully not going to repeat its performance. We also play both defensive midfielders in the middle of the park, a move which pays entirely unexpected dividends when Paul Wanless scrambles home from an uncleared corner midway through the first half. Then Mark Rawle (playing on the right wing since the physio thinks Hackett needs another rest) knocks home a Danny Brown cross and we’re in business. Wanless adds another from a late corner to give us a nice scoreline.
Oxford 3-0 York

[Katon]

The physio wants to keep Hackett out for the trip to Mansfield; I limit him to the sub’s bench. With Rawle moving over to the right wing, this puts Jamie Brooks up front, and it is Brooks who latches on to a long ball to put us ahead midway through the first half. Then Danny Brown curls a corner onto the head of Asamoah and we can relax. They pull one back just before the break, but there is no more excitement until a Mansfield defender throws a punch and gets sent off with a quarter of an hour remaining. Asamoah takes advantage of the space at the back to add a third in injury time.
Mansfield 1-3 Oxford

Our game against Yeovil is completely unmemorable. The only event of even moderate interest comes in second-half injury time when Jamie Brooks races onto a long clearance and fires a shot. Their keeper gets a hand, but it trickles in, and we win an eminently forgettable match
Oxford 1-0 Yeovil

I now receive a part-exchange offer for Scott McNiven: £4,000 and an unexceptional right winger. McNiven’s discipline problems, his poor play this season, and our salary troubles mean that I could definitely be persuaded to sell him, but I decide to negotiate for £20,000 straight up. The fact that I have recently been offered a very intriguing potential replacement for £4,000 also plays a part in my decision, especially since I need to clear wage room for him.

We played Brighton in the preseason and hammered them 4-0; a repeat of that scoreline would do nicely in the Vans Trophy Southern Final first leg. Of course, we have a slightly more difficult time this time, especially when in-form striker Jamie Brooks is forced to limp off at half-time. Of course, Derek Asamoah isn’t exactly an improvement from the Brighton perspective and it is Asamoah who gets the final touch when a long throw by Jonathan Ashton inspires panic in the Brighton penalty area. With just under twenty minutes to go, Asamoah breaks away to finish from a very tight angle and we’ve wrapped up an excellent first-leg win.
Oxford 2-0 Brighton

Bad news greets me after the match, with Paul Wanless out for two months and Scott McNiven no longer the subject of an offer.

Cambridge were the first team to beat us in the league this season. In the return, we outplay them comfortably, but our strikers look tired from the midweek game and we can’t score.
Oxford 0-0 Cambridge

Off to Brighton now, and the plan is simple: don’t concede any goals and score on the counter. It’s a bit hairy at times, with our defence frequently completely ignoring Brighton striker Leon Knight, but we follow the plan perfectly. Jamie Brooks does the damage, smashing Derek Asamoah’s cross into the roof of the net in a first-half counterattack.
Brighton 0(0)-1(3) Oxford

We’re through to the Vans Trophy Final, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in just over a month. Our opposition will be Barnsley, who like Brighton are smack in the middle of the Second Division.

[Katon]

Our team is still feeling the effects of its midweek match when the game against Rochdale rolls around, and we rest several starters. Jamie Brooks is up front while Mark Rawle fills in on the right, and it’s Brooks who gets tripped in the area before getting up to convert the penalty. The lead lasts less than half an hour before we concede an equalizer, a classic near-post header from a corner. We outplay them comfortably, but can’t get a winner, and they go on to score the winner with a late free kick.
Oxford 1-2 Rochdale

Off the back of that match, we get some surprising good news. Derek Asamoah, who played three league games all month, is declared the Third Division Player of the Month. I’m not sure he deserves to win this particular month, but he’s been good enough to deserve to win something.

The other player on our team who deserves to win an award of some sort is Chris Hackett, and it is Hackett who heads us into the lead against Macclesfield. We hold onto that lead through a second half filled with half-chances in which Derek Asamoah comes closest to scoring, hitting the bar.
Macclesfield 0-1 Oxford

Hackett strikes again in Darlington, opening the scoring with a marvelous jinking run. Unfortunately, our defence is looking particularly tired from our packed recent schedule, and we’re soon behind. Joy. We start pressing forward, but don’t look like getting anything – until an injury-time drive from Jonathan Hunt spins off a defender and into the corner. A deserved point.
Darlington 2-2 Oxford

Our games are getting increasingly irrelevant, as we have little chance of automatic promotion but have an eight-point cushion for our playoff spot. The match against Bury is started off with an underhit backpass by Matthew Bound that sets up an impressive long-range strike by a Bury striker. The rest of the match doesn’t really go much better.
Bury 2-0 Oxford

Time for a huge match: seventh versus eighth, us at home to Scunthorpe. Unfortunately, Andy Crosby is having one of his slower matches at the back and gets outpaced several times by Scunthorpe striker Paul Hayes, who converts one of those chances to put us behind. A harsh penalty doubles their lead and it looks like our third defeat in five will leave our playoff spot in real trouble. Derek Asamoah puts us back into the match only for Crosby to lose Hayes again and kill our chances. There is no way I’m renewing Crosby’s contract now. There’s still time for Chris Hackett to pull one back in injury time, but we’ve dug ourselves too deep a hole.
Oxford 2-3 Scunthorpe

Off to fourth-placed Hull now, and we couldn’t ask for a better start than a third-minute goal from Chris Hackett, his fourth in five games. That goal sets the tone of the game and we batter them for the rest of the game – figuratively as they find themselves desperately clinging on to the one-goal deficit and literally as Mark Rawle throws a punch two minutes after coming on.
Hull 0-1 Oxford

Rawle feels that my decision to warn him about violent behavior is unfair. Sorry, Mark, but if you hit somebody then you get warned. Period.

[3ric]

Apart from the offer for McNiven, you seem to stay rather quiet in the transfer market - do you feel comfortable with what you have in the current squad?

[Katon]

Well, the thing is, I'm about £5,000 over my wage limit, so I can't offer any wages over £300/week. There is nobody who is willing to sign for that amount of money who would improve my squad at all. Expect to see a fairly major defensive overhaul when I get out from under a load of contracts this summer. I'm pretty satisfied with my midfield and offence, though - my biggest priority there for the summer is to buy Asamoah permanently.

[Katon]

n further Mark Rawle developments, the striker has been suspended for three games over the whole hitting incident and has also admitted to having problems in his personal life which leave him little appetite for first team football. Oh, and he’s also going to be out for two months after tearing a groin muscle in training. By the time he tears his groin (the last event in the series), I can’t help laughing at just how thoroughly he’s been ruled out of the action.

With the Vans Trophy Final looming on Sunday, my team for the Wednesday match with Doncaster is notably weakened. Of our normal attacking stars – Hackett, Asamoah, Rawle, and Brooks – only Brooks sees any time, and even he only gets twenty minutes. Given that, I wouldn’t be too upset at a goalless draw, and that’s exactly what I spend ninety-one minutes watching. In the ninety-second minute, however, Hackett’s replacement, 17-year-old Tom Winters, races onto a poor back-pass and slams it past the goalie to give us a totally unexpected win.
Oxford 1-0 Doncaster

Before the trip to Cardiff, there is the small matter of the March awards to give out. Although the team played horribly for much of the month, there was a bright spot, with Chris Hackett contributing a goal a game and playing above even his normal high level. Sure enough, Hackett wins the Young Player of the Month award.

The Vans Trophy Final gets off to an absolutely horrible start, as only six minutes go by before we concede a goal from a corner. We bounce back quickly, however, and when a partly-cleared throw-in is knocked back in to Jamie Brooks we find ourselves level a quarter of an hour in. Then Brooks beats the keeper to a long clearance and slides the ball across to leave Derek Asamoah with a wide-open goal. 2-1 Oxford. Before half-time, though, our aerial weakness reappears and they equalize from a long cross. We continue to lose most of the aerial challenges, and it is another cross much like their second that decides the game with ten minutes left. There’s only one difference: the ball winds up in their net. Jonathan Ashton swings the ball in and Barnsley defender Neil Austin outjumps his own keeper and Jamie Brooks to claim a place in every Oxford fan’s prayers.
Oxford 3-2 Barnsley

So, with the Oxford fans still celebrating, let’s take a look at our successful Vans Trophy campaign. We conceded the most goals of any team in the tournament, shipping ten; on the other hand, we also scored the most goals, with Neil Austin’s winner being our twentieth of the cup. A third of those were scored by Derek Asamoah, who added in two more with Northampton to take his total to nine and become the tournament’s leading scorer by a clear four goals. Jamie Brooks’ brace in the final moved him into joint second with five.

The Northampton game three days after the Final starts off as badly as the Final did, with David Waterman giving away a quick penalty. The similarities with the Final continue, as Jamie Brooks pops up with another quick equalizer. Unfortunately, our defence is still looking tired and we fall behind again just before the break. No equalizer is forthcoming.
Northampton 2-1 Oxford

Bristol Rovers provide the next opposition, and with our defence finally looking marginally solid we have an easier time of it than against Northampton. Andy Crosby scores the first, heading in a Chris Hackett flick-on. He then heads in the second from a Jonathan Ashton throw-in, before David Waterman gives away his second penalty in as many games. Jamie Brooks restores our two-goal lead, though, knocking in the rebound of a Danny Brown shot.
Oxford 3-1 Bristol Rovers

Bottom-of-the-table Kidderminster come to visit and are thoroughly outplayed. Sadly, the ball won’t go in the net, and they score first from a corner just after the break. Cue Derek Asamoah. He scores twice to give the scoreline a more realistic look, and to give us the points.
Oxford 2-1 Kidderminster

Unfortunately, Jamie Brooks was injured during the win. His hip injury will leave him out for two months, and suddenly means that Steve Basham and Julian Alsop are parts of the first team again.

Now for sixth-placed Lincoln, another of the five teams within three points of the last automatic promotion place. They start out better than us, and we are lucky to go in at half-time level. After the break, we improve, and it is against the run of play when they take the lead from a corner. The lead lasts ten minutes before Derek Asamoah (who else?) converts a Tom Winters cross to level the scores. The next twist comes courtesy of Scott McNiven, whose rash challenge with a quarter of an hour to go results in Lincoln getting a penalty. They convert, and we’re probably condemned to the playoffs.
Lincoln 2-1 Oxford

[Katon]

Leaders Cheltenham are not exactly ideal opponents for a team needing to win out for a real chance at automatic promotion, but we get off to a good start nonetheless when a helpful defender fails to intercept an Asamoah-bound backpass. Asamoah adds his second from a narrow angle shortly before half-time and we’re coasting. The progress is interrupted somewhat when Cox is caught out of position by a header from the edge of the area, and then completely checked when Jonathan Ashton, of all people, heads a corner into his own net.
Oxford 2-2 Cheltenham

We’ve got little chance of finishing third and we’ve almost clinched a playoff spot, so there’s a slight sense of disinterest in our game with Boston United. The team seems to feel that disinterest, and to be honest Boston merit the lead they take when they beat our defence in the air just after half-time. They almost go two up, hitting the post, before we finally wake up and start pressing forward. The breakthrough finally comes when Tom Winters is jostled at a corner and Derek Asamoah makes short work of the penalty. As has happened so many times on the road this year, though, they come back and regain the lead. We try to come back again, but the only result is that we get caught on the break and concede a late third.
Boston Utd. 3-1 Oxford

I am somewhat cheered up by the news that Mark Rawle has gotten over his personal problems. So now it’s just the injury keeping him out.

A nice, flowing move gives us the lead just six minutes into our match with Huddersfield. Need I say who scored it? Derek Asamoah has now scored seven goals in his last five matches. We are comfortably in control of the match and, though we don’t score any more, still do enough to go into the playoffs on a high.
Oxford 1-0 Huddersfield

The way we’ve been playing away from home recently, we need to get a good result at home to Torquay. Sadly, they seem to have studied our one-man-band offence, as they injure Derek Asamoah within ten minutes of the kickoff. With Asamoah gone, it’s on to Plan B: Jonathan Ashton and his monster throw-ins. Fortunately, with fifteen minutes left, Plan B works, David Waterman on the receiving end. The last quarter of an hour is end-to-end, and on several occasions I am left ruing the difference between Alsop and Asamoah.
Oxford 1-0 Torquay

Luckily, Asamoah is passed fit for our trip to the south coast, and it is he who squeezes home Danny Brown’s cross to give us a much-wanted away goal, which seems to break Torquay’s spirit. From that point there is little chance of their getting back level on the night, let alone grabbing the three they needed to take the lead on aggregate. It only remains for Steve Basham to have his first goal of the season disallowed (correctly) for offside before our trip to Cardiff is confirmed.
Torquay 0-1 Oxford

Mark Rawle is still a day short of full fitness when the playoff final with Lincoln rolls around, but given the alternatives I have to start him anyway. It is neither Rawle nor Asamoah, though, who starts the game off with a bang; rather, it is Danny Brown to who Chris Hackett’s cross rolls. Our left winger fires his second goal of the season in off the near post. Brown turns provider eight minutes later, setting up Asamoah to score from a tight angle, and I can smell the Second Division. An identical goal three minutes later removes all doubt. Asamoah converts a Brown cross midway through the second half to complete his hat-trick.
Oxford 4-0 Lincoln

Our only mention in the end-of-season awards is the presence of Chris Hackett in the division’s Team of the Season.

[Katon]

We’re going to the Second Division! Let’s take a look at the squad that got us here:

7th in English Third Division
Squad Screen

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Pass | Tck | Drb | Sh Tar | Av R | Value|
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Lst | Alsop, J | 5 (11) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 62 % | 0.15 | 0.45 | 71 % | 6.25 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Asamoah, D | 36 (2) | 27 | 3 | 7 | 70 % | 0.65 | 3.88 | 61 % | 7.58 | £50K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | Ashton, J* | 57 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 66 % | 3.42 | 0.78 | 33 % | 7.14 | £28K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Wnt | Basham, S | 17 (4) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 72 % | 0.37 | 0.74 | 48 % | 6.38 | £30K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Bound, M* | 53 (1) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 70 % | 2.33 | 0.11 | 88 % | 6.74 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | Brandish, M | 10 (12) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 72 % | 2.13 | 0.56 | - | 6.36 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Brooks, J | 31 (12) | 16 | 7 | 2 | 69 % | 0.98 | 0.67 | 78 % | 6.65 | £40K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | | Brown, D | 44 (3) | 2 | 20 | 0 | 68 % | 2.93 | 0.65 | 52 % | 6.83 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Cox, S | 58 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 42 % | - | - | - | 6.62 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB2 | | Crosby, A | 21 (7) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 73 % | 1.72 | 0.10 | 81 % | 6.82 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MR | Wnt | Hackett, C* | 46 (2) | 9 | 8 | 10 | 56 % | 3.51 | 4.53 | 63 % | 7.44 | £28K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB4 | | Hunt, J | 45 (2) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 74 % | 3.09 | 0.43 | 43 % | 6.87 | £24K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Lst | Lovegrove, R | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 59 % | 5.14 | 0.36 | 50 % | 7.07 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DR | Wnt | McNiven, S | 43 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 57 % | 3.88 | 0.52 | 75 % | 6.49 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | Inj | Rawle, M | 35 (9) | 17 | 6 | 5 | 65 % | 1.97 | 1.56 | 63 % | 6.82 | £28K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | Wnt | Wanless, P | 11 (7) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 75 % | 1.41 | 0.23 | 50 % | 6.78 | £35K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Waterman, D | 47 (2) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 70 % | 2.87 | 0.13 | 83 % | 6.73 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | Wnt | Whitehead, D | 44 (4) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 70 % | 2.55 | 0.22 | 30 % | 6.92 | £24K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB3 | Wnt | Winters, T | 11 (7) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 65 % | 1.99 | 1.19 | 57 % | 6.78 | £18K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB1 | Lst | Woodman, A | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | £5K |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A few quick notes on various curious feats:

First, thanks are in order to Steve Basham for managing twenty first-team games as a striker with nary a goal to show for it. If he hadn’t been so inept, I never would have been moved to bring in Derek Asamoah on loan. Second, congratulations to Scott McNiven for picking up no fewer than eleven bookings and one red over the course of the season. Is it any wonder I’m not renewing his contract? Third, and somewhat less sarcastically, congratulations to Jonathan Ashton and Steve Cox, who missed just one match between them all season.

More generally, it’s fairly clear who our stars are: Derek Asamoah and Chris Hackett. Jamie Brooks and Mark Rawle had their days, but generally unless one of the big two were on form we struggled on offence. Our defence was actually the fourth-best in the league, although apart from Ashton nobody really stood out. Almost enough to make me wish we had more than three defenders returning this offseason.

Finally, just take a look at Asamoah’s end to the season:

| | | | | Pas | Cmp| Key| Tck| Won| Key| Hea| Won| Key| Ast| Sho| Sot| Int| Run| Off| Fou| Fld| Con| Rat| Gls|
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Fri, 28.5.2004 | | Lincoln | | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 10 | 3 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wed, 19.5.2004 | | Torquay | | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 9 | 1 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 15.5.2004 | | Torquay | inj 26 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 7 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 8.5.2004 | | Huddersfield | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 80 | 7 | 1 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 1.5.2004 | | Boston Utd | | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 72 | 7 | 1 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 24.4.2004 | | Cheltenham | | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 82 | 8 | 2 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wed, 21.4.2004 | | Lincoln | | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 84 | 9 | 1 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 17.4.2004 | | Kidderminster | | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 77 | 9 | 2 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sat, 10.4.2004 | | Bristol Rovers | | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 7 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wed, 7.4.2004 | | Northampton | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 74 | 7 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sun, 4.4.2004 | | Barnsley | | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 76 | 8 | 1 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Katon]

Holders - Cheltenham


| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | C | Cheltenham | | 46 | 27 | 16 | 3 | 71 | 21 | +50 | 97 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | P | Cambridge | | 46 | 27 | 12 | 7 | 95 | 46 | +49 | 93 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | P | Hull | | 46 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 74 | 38 | +36 | 87 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Torquay | | 46 | 25 | 8 | 13 | 84 | 50 | +34 | 83 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Southend | | 46 | 22 | 14 | 10 | 88 | 56 | +32 | 80 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Lincoln | | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 82 | 54 | +28 | 80 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | P | Oxford | | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 66 | 47 | +19 | 80 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Scunthorpe | | 46 | 23 | 6 | 17 | 65 | 59 | +6 | 75 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Bristol Rovers | | 46 | 21 | 9 | 16 | 56 | 57 | -1 | 72 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th | | Bury | | 46 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 56 | 49 | +7 | 70 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th | | Huddersfield | | 46 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 57 | 57 | 0 | 69 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th | | Doncaster | | 46 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 68 | 57 | +11 | 66 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th | | Swansea | | 46 | 20 | 5 | 21 | 87 | 79 | +8 | 65 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th | | York | | 46 | 19 | 8 | 19 | 68 | 64 | +4 | 65 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th | | Darlington | | 46 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 43 | 54 | -11 | 61 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th | | Northampton | | 46 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 56 | 56 | 0 | 60 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th | | Rochdale | | 46 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 59 | 60 | -1 | 59 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th | | Leyton Orient | | 46 | 12 | 10 | 24 | 44 | 72 | -28 | 46 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th | | Boston Utd | | 46 | 10 | 14 | 22 | 43 | 70 | -27 | 44 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th | | Macclesfield | | 46 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 34 | 54 | -20 | 41 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 21st | | Mansfield | | 46 | 9 | 11 | 26 | 48 | 81 | -33 | 38 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 22nd | | Yeovil | | 46 | 9 | 6 | 31 | 51 | 106 | -55 | 33 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 23rd | R | Carlisle | | 46 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 49 | 96 | -47 | 32 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 24th | R | Kidderminster | | 46 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 47 | 108 | -61 | 26 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Note the P next to our name.

Also, a look at the Third Division Select reveals that we actually have two representatives, though starting forward Derek Asamoah is registered with Northampton Reserves. You think that having a Division Select starter out on loan might have something to do with Northampton’s failure to live up to their preseason billing?

Now some people might think that winning the playoffs without conceding a goal would merit a Manager of the Month award. Perhaps those same people would even think that six goals in a month including a hat-trick in the playoff final was a feat worthy of the Player of the Month award. Unfortunately, none of those people vote on the Third Division awards. And that’s all I’m saying about the May decisions.

With my wage budget still filled, I am forced to sit on my hands through June. The end of June is notable for two things. First, I am told that, as a result of my extravagant spending last season, my transfer budget this year will be limited to £95,000. That would be the same last season in which I brought in a grand total of one loan player and cut the wage bill by £3,000/week? The selection of Chris Hackett as the Fans’ Player of the Year is rather less silly, although I can’t help wondering whether Derek Asamoah would have won had he still been at the club. Who would you have voted for?

[klayman]

Good job. How do you think you will manage in division 2?

[Katon]

Well, if you look at all the games we played against Second Division teams in the Vans Trophy then I think that our offence should be OK at that level, but our defence needs a bit of work. Since I was going to give the back line an overhaul anyway, that comes out relatively nicely. I don't plan to change my tactics unless results force me to, so the biggest difference will probably be that now I can actually pay out wages and therefore can sign people. More to come later.

[Katon]

Things aren’t looking too good at the start of July 2004. Yes, Oxford have just been promoted to Division 2, but on the other hand . . .

 we have three first-team defenders under contract
 our coaching staff has been similarly thinned
 last season’s leading scorer has gone back off to Northampton
 due to wage constraints we haven’t been able to do anything about the above problems for the first month of the offseason

It is not until June 31, when half the team is cleared off the wage bill, that I am finally able to do something. Even then, I still have problems. The maximum my board is willing to spend on any one player is £1,700 per week; there are very few people in the market willing to accept much below that maximum wage. As a result, it takes a week and a half before I manage to sign anybody, and when that signing comes it isn’t at one of the need positions. Instead, Irish U-21 midfielder Michael Foley-Sheridan has decided that Oxford United are a more attractive team than River Plate, Coventry, or Leicester. Can’t say I see his logic, but we’re delighted to have him. The next signing, like Foley-Sheridan, has just been released after failing to make the grade at a Premiership club. While Alan Tate may not be good enough for Manchester United, he’s certainly good enough to play central defence for us.

Of course, none of these signings are dealing with our real problem position: right-back. We currently have one right-back on the club’s books, and Robert Lovegrove is about as capable of starting in Division 2 as I am. Cue another ex-Premiership youth player, with teenager Michael Green coming our way from Southampton. I then add Alan Tate’s former Man U youth colleague Lee Sims to give us a surfeit of 19-year-old right-backs. With it becoming increasingly clear that most of the first-class defenders on the market are priced out of my range, I start focusing on cheap players who might work out rather than the sure things I would have preferred. The perfect example of the type is Scottish defender Eddie Forrest, who my scout doesn’t rate but who is cheap and should be a competent backup. That leaves our defence in good enough shape for the time being. There are a few players on the transfer market who I could bring in if necessary; I’m content to have a go with what I have now, though.

Part of the reason for my reluctance to spend further on my defence is the need to add depth at goalkeeper and up front. Steve Cox is the only goalkeeper currently employed at the club; up front, we have been reduced to Jamie Brooks and Mark Rawle. The latter problem is solved by my first cash signing ever, with £30,000 seeing Derek Asamoah join up permanently after protracted negotiations over his wages. Scottish teenager Allan Creer joins up to compete for the starting keeper job and the squad is more or less complete.

[Katon]

Goalkeepers
| GK | | Cox, S | GK | 6 | Superb | 100% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB1 | | Creer, A | GK | 6-6-6-6 | Superb | 97% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Simon Cox was an everpresent during our promotion season, and the starting job is still his heading into the start of this season. Allan Creer is as good or better on paper, though, and at 17 I strongly suspect that he will wind up starting for us at some point in the next few years.

Defence
| DR | | Green, M | D R | 7-7-7-7-6 | Okay | 97% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB2 | | Sims, L | D R | 6-7-7-7 | Superb | 79% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | Ashton, J* | D LC | 7-8-7-7-7 | Superb | 86% | - | ---- | £28K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Bound, M | D C | 7-7 | Superb | 99% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | Forrest, E | D C | 7-5-7-7 | Poor | 79% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Tate, A | D C | 6-8-7-7 | Very Good | 73% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB3 | | Waterman, D | D/DM C | 6-6-7-6 | Superb | 97% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


The only really certain returning starter is Jonathan Ashton, one of our star players last season. Most of the rest of our defenders are new to the club, with only Matthew Bound and David Waterman left over from last year. Our two teenage right-backs are difficult to tell apart; Sims is slightly better defensively, but Green is superior on the attack. Alan Tate looks to be a natural leader and is penciled in as squad captain. Eddie Forrest, on the other hand, was brought in as a cheap backup, and anything more would be a bonus.

Midfield
| MC | Wnt | Whitehead, D | DM C | 7-7-7-7-7 | Superb | 79% | - | ---- | £26K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB4 | | Brandish, M | M LC | 7-7 | Superb | 100% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | | Brown, D | M LC | 4-7-7 | Superb | 82% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | Hunt, J* | M C | 7-6-6 | Superb | 97% | - | ---- | £24K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MR | Wnt | Hackett, C* | AM R | 7-8-7-7-7 | Superb | 85% | - | ---- | £100K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Wnt | Winters, T | AM/F L | 7-8-7-6 | Superb | 96% | - | ---- | £22K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | | Foley-Sheridan, M | AM C | 6-7-7-7-7 | Superb | 83% | - | ---- | £35K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Our midfield features two of our star players: Chris Hackett, who has been arguably our best player ever since I arrived at the club, and Michael Foley-Sheridan, our brand new Irish U-21 player. Those two start for sure; Dean Whitehead is also a near-certain starter, with his only competition for the defensive midfield slot having left over the summer. Danny Brown completes the set on the left flank, as Matthew Brandish and Tom Winters are still too young to really compete for a spot.

Strikers
| FC | | Rawle, M | F RC | 9-7-7-6 | Superb | 95% | - | ---- | £28K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB5 | | Brooks, J | F C | 6-6-7-5 | Superb | 77% | - | ---- | £40K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Asamoah, D | S C | 7-7-7-9-6 | Superb | 97% | - | ---- | £35K |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

This trio should need little introduction. Asamoah became our only cash signing of the off-season after an extraordinarily successful loan spell; Rawle and Brooks were our property to begin with. All three scored at least fifteen for us last year.

[Katon]

Our first opponents, Barnsley, are somewhat familiar: they were the opposition when we won the Vans Trophy last season. We start the match off with another familiar moment: Derek Asamoah wriggling free and scoring from a very tight angle. That happens after three minutes; within the first eight, we’re two ahead, Asamoah crossing for Mark Rawle to score. Rawle finishes off a neat move down the left to make it three midway through the first half, putting the match beyond doubt. Asamoah then hits the bar with another of his trademark shots. Barnsley do bounce back somewhat in the second half, and Michael Green is forced to head off the line at one point, but there is little real danger to the scoreline.
Oxford 3-0 Barnsley

The League Cup is next up. We made a complete mess of this tournament last year, and start out in similar fashion this time around when a free kick deflects off Dean Whitehead and completely wrongfoots Simon Cox. We equalize, however, just after the break when debutant Eddie Forrest is given two stabs at a Jonathan Ashton throw-in. The tie goes to extra time, which is when Michael Foley-Sheridan takes over. He takes over the midfield, starts dictating play, and within two minutes has set up Jamie Brooks to cross for Rawle to win the tie. Danny Brown adds a third from another Ashton throw.
Oxford 3-1 Darlington

The victory over Darlington had a price, though. Chris Hackett damaged his kneecap, and will miss three weeks.

Our second game in the Second Division starts off in much the same way as the first: an Oxford player scoring from a narrow angle. This time it’s Michael Foley-Sheridan who opens the scoring. We can’t build on the advantage, though, and Leon Knight equalizes for Brighton – the first goal they’ve scored against my Oxford team in a friendly, two Vans Trophy Semifinal matches, and now this league match. Before they can begin to think about getting a point, though, Dean Whitehead puts Julian Brooks through to restore our lead. To their credit, they come back again, and equalize when our defence gets pulled out of shape.
Oxford 2-2 Brighton

Port Vale are the next opponents, and we gift them the lead just before half-time when Simon Cox makes a complete mess of a long-range shot. Our reaction is not quite as fluent as I would hope, and the closest we can come is when Derek Asamoah curls a forty-yard drive off the post with the keeper in no-man’s-land. They grab a second late on from the edge of the area and we fall to our first defeat of the season.
Port Vale 2-0 Oxford

[Katon]

After Simon Cox’s disaster against Port Vale, Allan Creer gets the start in goal against Peterbrough. He lasts less than half an hour before conceding, as our defence completely fails to stop an attack down the right. We surge forward in response, and are unlucky not to be level before the break. No matter; within five minutes of the restart we equalize, Julian Brooks latching on to a long ball and rounding the stranded keeper. We press for a winner, but their keeper stands firm, and they begin to reassert themselves. A draw is probably the fairest result.
Peterborough 1-1 Oxford

It takes almost an hour for anything exciting to happen in our game with Walsall. When some action does come, however, it is worth the wait, with Michael Foley-Sheridan chipping a marvelous pass over an advancing defender to find Julian Brooks wide open at the edge of the area. Brooks adds a second late on from a Matthew Brandish corner.
Oxford 2-0 Walsall

Next up is a trip to bottom-of-the-table Hartlepool. We receive a boost midway through the first half when Brooks is pulled back while trying to go through on goal. The referee decides that Brooks was denied a goal-scoring chance, and Hartlepool are a defender down. We go on to completely dominate the match. Unfortunately, Hartlepool keeper Jim Provett is playing out of his skin, including two spectacular saves from Dean Whitehead free kicks, and we don’t get the goal we deserve.
Hartlepool 0-0 Oxford

I now get some good news, as Chris Hackett’s kneecap is fully recovered and ready for match action. My joy is limited, however, when some rather disturbing transfer speculation comes up with regard to Jonathan Ashton. Sheffield United are rumoured to be interested in adding him to their squad, and there are hints that other teams are interested too. Ashton is one of the best players in our squad and we don’t actually have any other left-backs, so I issue a hands-off warning.

Ashton says he would be flattered if Sheffield United came in for him. This is not a good sign for my chances of keeping him.

Well, whatever his future holds, Ashton is still here for our game against Oldham, and it is from one of his throws that Matthew Bound heads us into the lead midway through the first half. Oldham come back, however, and soon equalize from a set piece of their own, as our defence fails to challenge when a free kick is swung into the box. We regain the lead with fifteen minutes to go, however, through Julian Brooks after a nice move down the left. Brooks then adds another when Chris Hackett leaves his marker for dead, cuts inside, and crosses.
Oxford 3-1 Oldham

If the season ended today, we would be in the last playoff spot. I don’t expect this to last – we weren’t so dominant in the Third Division that I expect us to do much more than survive this season – but it’s nice nonetheless.

The first bid for Jonathan Ashton comes in. Reading offer £6,000 and a 33-year-old centre-back. I return a demand for £50,000 and a Scottish U-21 left-back (who isn’t as good as Ashton, but should be good enough to start). I don’t expect this to be accepted, but I wouldn’t mind if it was. Of course, they decline to overpay by that much.

For the first hour, our match against Chesterfield is probably the most boring of the season so far. They score midway through the second half, though, and things start to pick up. We soon equalize when another Ashton throw prompts a header which the goalie can only parry to Foley-Sheridan. That’s how it finishes.
Oxford 1-1 Chesterfield

[Katon]

First Division leaders Norwich are our hosts in the second round of the League Cup. We start out brightly, and there is little sign of the division gap during an initial half-hour which we cap by taking the lead through Chris Hackett. They quickly equalize with a neat move from a throw-in, though, and begin to press for a winner. They struggle to create any clear-cut chances, and so we retake the lead when substitute Derek Asamoah hooks the ball in with only five minutes to go. They promptly equalize and send the match to extra time. We take the lead for the third time early in the added period, Asamoah finishing a Hackett cross, but we can’t hold on to this one either. Norwich go on to grab a winner and inflict one of the most frustrating defeats of my career on us.
Norwich 4-3 Oxford

With Alan Tate in particular underachieving, I think it might be nice to have payroll freed up in case I want to bring in another defender. I therefore begin to offer James Hunt around. Hunt is being paid four-digit sums every week to sit behind Michael Foley-Sheridan, which is not an irreplaceable job.

I make two changes to our defense and another in goal for our trip to Nottingham on the Saturday; it doesn’t help. Allan Creer has already made several good saves when one of his parries falls to a Notts County defended midway through the first half and we find ourselves behind. We bounce back, however, and equalize when Hackett crosses for Asamoah in a repeat of our third in midweek. We’re level for less than ten minutes before the defence goes walkabout and Creer is left alone with a Notts County striker. He stops the first shot, but he can’t stop the second. Creer, hitherto our best defensive player, is then at fault when a twentyfive-yard shot goes in. We go on the offensive in the second half, and pull one back quickly through Julian Brooks before equalizing when Michael Foley-Sheridan puts Asamoah clean through on goal. Foley-Sheridan then plays Brooks in to put us ahead with a quarter of the match still to play. We are ahead for all of two minutes before they score their fourth.
Notts County 4-4 Oxford

I make some tactical tweaks for our trip to Cambridge; their largest noticeable effect is to delay the first goal until the fortieth minute. We are not impressive, and do not launch a real attack until Derek Asamoah (who else?) bursts into the area just over an hour in and slots the ball past Cambridge goalie Shaun Marshall. They regain the lead with a classic Route One goal, but Asamoah equalizes again from an extremely tight angle with ten miutes to go.
Cambridge 2-2 Oxford

Mark Rawle will be out for a month after fracturing his ribs in a training session. This is not good. I don’t have enough strikers to be able to afford an injury to one of them.

[Katon]

More tactical tweaks in a desperate attempt to fix our defence, and we also return to last year’s pairing of Waterman and Bound at the back for the visit of fellow promotees Hull. We get off to a good start when Derek Asamoah sends an uncleared corner across for Michael Foley-Sheridan to volley home, but our latest attempt at a defence can only hold out for two minutes before allowing a far-post tap-in. Within a minute, though, a lovely Jonathan Ashton pass has put Asamoah through and his seventh goal in the last four puts us back in the lead. This lead lasts until early in the second half, when a lucky ricochet off Foley-Sheridan puts a Hull striker clean through to score.
Oxford 2-2 Hull

We have now drawn seven out of eleven games. On the plus side, we’ve only lost one of those games, and so we are fairly comfortably above the relegation zone. More good news is that I may have found a buyer for Jonathan Hunt: Cheltenham have made a £10,000 bid for him. I accept the bid.

Our defence doesn’t really need much help conceding, but it gets it anyway when Dean Whitehead gives away a penalty just two minutes into our trip to Colchester. They convert with ease. Eight minutes later, though, Derek Asamoah wriggles into the box and finds the net from an extremely narrow angle. Asamoah then turns provider, looping the ball across the face of the goal to give Julian Brooks a tap-in. Just before half-time Brooks volleys in a long pass from Whitehead and I finally start to believe we might actually win one. They threaten in the second half, and Lee Sims has to clear one off the line, but the only addition to the scoreline comes from Asamoah – his ninth in five games – when he replicates our first goal of the day deep into injury time.
Colchester 1-4 Oxford

I am also moved to compliment Derek Asamoah’s recent performances, for obvious reasons. This draws a quick response:

Fans of Oxford United have inundated the letters page of The Oxford Mail with praise for the in-form Derek Asamoah. Many fans had felt that the explosive striker Asamoah would have much less of an impact on the team this season, but have been pleasantly surprised by the consistency of his performances.

Any people who thought Asamoah wouldn’t have an impact on this level obviously slept through last year’s Vans Trophy, but that’s still nice to hear. What’s also nice to hear is that we have another player in the James Hunt sweepstakes: Bournemouth have made a bid of roughly £10,000, which I promptly accept.

Hunt eventually decides to go to Cheltenham, leaving me to decide what to do with his newly-freed-up wages. Considering that we’re leading the division in goals and have only an average defence, the decision might seem easy; on the other hand, I just brought in two new central defenders and I think Alan Tate in particular is better than he’s been playing. I’m also really not sold on Danny Brown as a Second Division winger, since as far as I can tell all of our play down the left has been coming from Jonathan Ashton. I look into a few left-sided players and a few central defenders; I’ll report if I actually make a serious bid on anyone.

You would think teams would have figured out that letting Derek Asamoah have the ball on one of the side edges of the six-yard-box is a fatal mistake, but they just keep doing it. He gets into his favorite position three minutes into the Stockport match, and we get our usual goal out of it. We outplay them comfortably, and thoroughly deserve the second which we get courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Michael Foley-Sheridan. He collects the ball almost thirty yards out, looks up, and curls the ball in off the near post with an unbelievable amount of bend. Amazing. When he limps off five minutes later, it is to a standing ovation. Unfortunately, David Waterman isn’t quite as much use in central midfield as Foley-Sheridan, and so they have an opportunity to get back into the match which is further helped when Waterman gives away a penalty. Simon Cox saves the penalty in a manner which would have occasioned much celebration had the ball not rebounded straight back to the penalty-taker. He doesn’t miss twice. Fortunately, we manage to reassert ourselves, and survive the rest of the match with no real scares.
Oxford 2-1 Stockport

Fortunately, Foley-Sheridan’s injury is not serious, and he will not miss any matches.

Old foes Brighton provide the opposition in our first Vans Trophy tie, and with Michael Green attacking well in a rare start at right-back we are the more impressive early on. We take the lead half an hour in when Dean Whitehead gets on the end of a Danny Brown free-kick and then with the help of a spectacular performance from Simon Cox proceed to keep our first clean sheet in over a month.
Oxford 1-0 Brighton

Encouraged by the result, I keep our defence intact for the Saturday game with Cheltenham. Unfortunately, our offence is looking somewhat tired, and goals are few and far between. An Alan Tate slip gives them a goal with ten minutes to go, and things look grim. Cue Derek Asamoah, who collects a throw-in, slips between two defenders, races into the area, and scores. We still have time to put the ball in the net from a Chris Hackett corner, but unfortunately Jamie Brooks is judged to have fouled their goalie.
Cheltenham 1-1 Oxford

Cambridge striker Martin Cameron wins the October Player of the Month award, having been in “dangerous form” and scored six goals in six games. Oxford striker Derek Asamoah, having scored nine goals in six games, gets absolutely nothing. Can somebody please explain this to me?

On the transfer front, I have marked down one Scottish midfielder in case I am ever in a position to spend £85,000 on one player (remember the name: Graeme Holmes), and I am currently negotiating with left-back/-winger Brian McGlinchey to move here from Plymouth reserves. He looks good enough to start on the wing, and he could also give me the option of playing Jonathan Ashton – my best defender by a good margin - in the middle if I wanted to.

[Katon]

Brian McGlinchey agrees terms, and as soon as his loan spell with Northwhich Victoria runs out he’ll be joining us. At £9,000 this really isn’t a huge gamble.

Off to Grimsby now, and we need only fifteen minutes to take the lead through Michael Foley-Sheridan. Their defence opens up, and he only has to run into the area and beat the keeper. They’re unable to mount a coherent response, and Derek Asamoah has already missed a couple good chances when he doubles our lead on a counterattack. A neat individual goal from Foley-Sheridan then makes it three, and ends any real threat of a comeback.
Grimsby 0-3 Oxford

We’ve been getting the occasional news item as the season goes on about how delighted the Oxford board and owner are with the team. It might be nice if, just once, one of these stories could avoid the phrase ”they might still be favorites to go down, but . . .”. There are three strikers in double digits this season; we have two of them. We have a twelve-match unbeaten run going. We’re the division’s leading scorers. How on earth are we favorites to go down?

Our quest to avoid relegation now takes us to Bournemouth, where Derek Asamoah grabs yet another goal after a Cherries defender misreads a Lee Sims long ball. With Dean Whitehead taking a physio-recommended rest, we struggle in midfield, and they equalize when Simon Cox completely miscues on a backpass and barely taps the ball. Some uncharacteristic misses by Asamoah keep them level until just after the hour, when one of their strikers redirects a long-range shot past Cox. We threaten, but they hang on for the win.
Bournemouth 2-1 Oxford

Off to Chorley in the FA Cup First Round. No, I’ve never heard of them either. I start a few reserves – Allan Creer, Eddie Forrest – and our weakened defence manages to concede within four minutes. They have the lead for three minutes before Danny Brown crosses for Derek Asamoah to head home. Asamoah eventually gets put through by Michael Foley-Sheridan to give us the lead. He also wins a late penalty, which Jamie Brooks whacks against the keeper before converting the rebound. Brooks adds a fourth deep into stoppage time.
Chorley 1-4 Oxford

From one cup to another; we face Wycombe next, in the Vans Trophy Second Round. We dominate the match, but create few clear-cut chances. They score on an injury-time counterattack with their first shot of the game. I’d rather not talk about it.
Oxford 0-1 Wycombe

In a curious coincidence, our next league opposition is . . . Wycombe! We have little more luck going forward this time, and are further hampered when Lee Sims is sent off somewhat dubiously for a trip on an opposing winger which I really didn’t see as a professional foul. In the end, I’m relieved to escape with the draw.
Oxford 0-0 Wycombe

[klayman]

Cambridge striker Martin Cameron wins the October Player of the Month award, having been in “dangerous form” and scored six goals in six games. Oxford striker Derek Asamoah, having scored nine goals in six games, gets absolutely nothing. Can somebody please explain this to me?

Media Bias? It's great seeing that Hartlepool have a 6 game undefeated streak going, but it's kind of stupid when you've won 17 on the trot, and haven't heard a peep. For crying out loud, I beat Southampton in the FA Cup and didn't hear a thing! I really hope the majority of the improvements they make to the next version are in media interaction.

Keep up the good work! http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Katon]

I’m still not entirely sold on my central defenders, so in addition to signing McGlinchey I also opt to bring in Liverpool youngster Jon Otsemobor on loan. He’ll only cost us £130/week to the end of the year, and he can play in the middle or on the right in a pinch.

Otsemobor makes his debut away to Rushden, in what is not our finest performance of the season. We’re outplayed for the first half-hour, but our defence keeps them from having any good chances and we only fall behind when Simon Cox is lobbed from 35 yards out. We have the better of the second half, but can’t manage an equalizer. Three games without a goal now.
Rushden 1-0 Oxford

In spite of our recent form slump, my work is still seen as impressive enough for me to be offered the vacant job at Peterborough. The offer might be slightly more tempting if they weren’t thirteen places below us and in serious danger of relegation. I’m not leaving Oxford unless it’s for a comfortably better-off club.

Chris Hackett had a nightmare against Rushden, but he’s back to normal for our trip to Milton Keynes to face Wimbledon. Both sides have already missed sitters when Hackett breaks free and crosses for Julian Brooks to open the scoring. We double our lead right after the break when Mark Rawle – picked to give Derek Asamoah a rest – intercepts a backpass and beats the keeper one-on-one. Rawle makes it three after catching a defender in possession on the hour, and the match is dead as a contest.
Wimbledon 0-3 Oxford

David Waterman’s contract is due to expire in six months, so I have a decision to make. Waterman’s been serving as a backup central midfielder and occasional centre-back this season. I’d rather bring in a first-class central defender over the summer since Alan Tate continues to underachieve drastically. I make no move to renew Waterman’s contract.

Rawle and Asamoah are the pairing up front for the visit of Tranmere, and in the first hour we produce the same combination of dominance and poor finishing that got us dumped out of the Vans Trophy by Wycombe. This time, however, we manage a goal, Rawle tapping in a Chris Hackett cross. We’re never in serious danger of conceding, and Michael Foley-Sheridan adds a late second from the edge of the area to clinch it.
Oxford 2-0 Tranmere

If I’m being honest, our performance away to Plymouth is not that impressive. They have much the better of the match, Michael Foley-Sheridan limps off midway through with a minor injury, and we win when Chris Hackett puts Derek Asamoah through with a quarter of an hour to go.
Plymouth 0-1 Oxford

With several first team players in need of a rest, I send out a somewhat weakened team for the FA Cup tie with Margate. We’re still good enough to handle them, and Mark Rawle curls a free kick off the crossbar near the half-hour mark. It comes as something of a surprise, therefore, when shockingly hesitant defending gives them the chance to open the scoring fifty minutes into the match. We bounce back, though, and Danny Brown puts Rawle through to level the scores midway through the second half. The tie goes to a replay.
Oxford 1-1 Margate

If we manage to win in the replay, a trip to the Riverside Stadium awaits us. Middlesbrough are currently fifteenth in the Premiership, so not exactly the easiest team to beat, but the money would be nice.

Away to Barnsley now, and we take the lead just before halftime when Derek Asamoah gets knocked over in the area and converts the ensuing penalty. We outplay them throughout the second half, and are close several times, including one Michael Foley-Sheridan lob after their keeper misplaces a clearance, but don’t score again until Michael Green is fouled in the area with five minutes to go. Substitute Jamie Brooks misses, but converts the rebound. Dean Whitehead adds a third in injury time with a low shot from the edge of the area.
Barnsley 0-3 Oxford

[Katon]

Brian McGlinchey is an Oxford player by the time the Margate replay rolls around, but with Danny Brown in excellent form recently I opt to limit McGlinchey to the bench. We’re setting out a more serious lineup this time, but we still rest Dean Whitehead, Chris Hackett, and Derek Asamoah. We don’t miss them, with Mark Rawle opening the scoring two minutes in. We never look like conceding an equalizer, and I’m somewhat disappointed when we don’t score again.
Margate 0-1 Oxford

Our game with Blackpool gets off to a flying start: first Ronnie Wellens hits the angle of post and bar for them, then we race down the other end and Derek Asamoah forces a save out of Bryn Halliwell. The game slows down somewhat after that, and the next real chance doesn’t come until the hour mark when Eddie Forrest mistimes a challenge and gives them a penalty. Their lead lasts for two minutes before Mark Rawle loops a cross over the keeper for Asamoah to tap in. Asamoah almost gives us the lead after bursting through ten minutes later, but his curling shot hits the post. I then put McGlinchey on for Forrest, moving Jonathan Ashton into the middle; Ashton promptly misses a header to give Blackpool what turns out to be the winner.
Blackpool 2-1 Oxford

More defensive errors put us on the back foot against Brighton, with Allan Creer the culprit this time after coming out for a long clearance and losing out to Leon Knight. Knight strikes again shortly afterwards and I ring the changes. Mark Rawle pulls one back just after the break from an Asamoah cross. Then, on the hour mark, a bit of shoving at a corner gives us a penalty which Asamoah promptly hits against the goalkeeper. We keep pressing, and Asamoah redeems himself with a neat header from a Chris Hackett cross. Within six minutes, though, a classic Route One goal has put us behind again.
Brighton 3-2 Oxford

On to the New Year now, and in addition to the normal annual awards – from which Oxford are completely shut out, of course – we also have the opening up of Bosman season. My first priority is to resign Jonathan Ashton, who has been the best left-back in the division so far this year. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that he’s hoping (not entirely unrealistically) for big money, and I may not be able to afford it. Second priority is to sign a replacement for David Waterman, who is leaving over the offseason. I find a promising-looking Scot, and make him a good offer. After that, I can simply pick and choose the best deals available.

After two road losses in a row, it’s nice to be back home. It’s also nice to take the lead for once, with Mark Rawle rifling in a shot from the edge of the area. We outplay them comfortably for the rest of the match, and when Brian McGlinchey crosses for Derek Asamoah to slide home the second with ten minutes left it’s no more than we deserve. Man-of-the-match McGlinchey then drops a corner on Rawle’s head to add another goal.
Oxford 3-0 Peterborough

Scottish defender/midfielder Gary Locke agrees terms, and our replacement for David Waterman is headed our way. At 29, Locke is older than my normal run of signing, but he looks good enough to start in defensive midfield or central defence for us. At the same time, Jonathan Ashton agrees to our latest offer, which means we’ve covered every potential loss this offseason already.

One position Locke probably won’t start at is attacking midfield, where Michael Foley-Sheridan is making himself at home. It’s a brilliant piece of skill from Foley-Sheridan that sets up the first goal against Burnley, as he curls a beautiful drive off the crossbar where it rebounds to Jamie Brooks. The rest of the match degenerates into a scrappy affair, with four of our guys getting booked. We eventually clinch when Mark Rawle scrambles home the rebound after having a header saved. That goal breaks Burnely’s spirit, and we begin to score at will. Foley-Sheridan adds the third when he tries the same shot that led to the first and gets it in this time, and Michael Green crosses for Rawle to add number four.
Oxford 4-0 Burnley

FA Cup Third Round weekend now, and we’re away to Middlesbrough in what should be a very profitable tie. Brian McGlinchey is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow of the season against Burnley, meaning that Danny Brown returns, but otherwise we’re at full strength. The plan is to hang on and take our chances when they come along. We execute perfectly, restricting them to shots from distance and then counterattacking, with Chris Hackett crossing for Mark Rawle to . . . hit the ball right at the keeper. Oops. The match continues, and we acquit ourselves fairly well, creating a few more chances for Rawle and Derek Asamoah to miss. With ten minutes left, the scores are level, and we’re on our way to a well-earned replay. Then, suddenly, Michael Foley-Sheridan plays Rawle in around the defence and Rawle beats Rogerio Ceni at his near post. With no further action, the scoreline stands.
Middlesbrough 0-1 Oxford

We’re going to the fourth round! And with First Division QPR coming to the Kassam Stadium, a trip to the fifth round is not out of the question.

[Katon]

After visiting Middlesbrough, a home match against Hartlepool seems easy by comparison. We take the lead after just nine minutes, Derek Asamoah outjumping a taller defender to flick the ball on for Mark Rawle to score his seventh in five games. With Michael Foley-Sheridan suspended and Dean Whitehead being rested, we’re short on creativity through the middle, but Chris Hackett is still there and it is he who crosses for Rawle’s second of the match a few minutes before halftime. Foley-Sheridan’s makeshift replacement, Jamie Brooks, adds the third early in the second half after Alan Tate knocks down a Brian McGlinchey corner. Brooks then adds a fourth, still before the hour mark, sliding home a Rawle cross. There’s still time for David Waterman to hit the post and for the ball to be cleared off the line in a goalmouth scramble before the final whistle.
Oxford 4-0 Hartlepool

After that performance, I opt for Brooks and Rawle together up front against Oldham. Once again, it is Rawle who opens the scoring, latching onto a long Jonathan Ashton clearance and beating the keeper. It’ s Rawle who nets the second, too, after Chris Hackett skips past two defenders to cross the ball into the six-yard-box. Brooks, meanwhile, is not at his best, failing to convert good crosses from Rawle and Brian McGlinchey.
Oldham 0-2 Oxford

Rawle is suspended for the visit of Port Vale, and so Brooks continues in the team in spite of some poor form. He misses another good chance midway through the first half, intercepting a pass along the defence only to fire the ball at Boaz Myhill in the Vale goal. We do eventually take the lead, though, with one of the scrappiest goals of the season. Chris Hackett fires a cross into the area, a defender desperately pokes the ball away from Asamoah, and then another defender trying to stop Asamoah shooting knocks the ball in. The same defender is then lucky not to give away another when Asamoah catches him in possession, but our star striker shoots over after faking the goalie out. We finally grab the second when Michael Green, on as a substitute right winger, pops up at the far post to bundle in an Asamoah cross deep into injury time.
Oxford 2-0 Port Vale

With our club-record winning streak now extended to six games, I am approached by Wimbledon to take over there as manager. Wimbledon are a midtable Second Division squad with a threadbare squad. Oxford are fourth with a game in hand on the second-placed team. No thank you.

Rawle is back for the visit of Cambridge, and he’s unlucky not to score in the first twenty minutes when he hits the bar after getting one-on-one with the keeper. He isn’t at his best, though, and with Derek Asamoah rested on my physio’s advice the match fairly quickly peters out into a goalless draw.
Oxford 0-0 Cambridge

Our streak of clean sheets lasts five minutes into our trip to Walsall before a neat chip over the top catches our entire defence out and we find ourselves behind. Things go from bad to worse when Danny Brown, in to let us give Jonathan Ashton a rest, gets himself sent off for a professional foul three minutes later. We collect ourselves, though, and manage to equalize just after the break when Derek Asamoah wriggles through two defenders before finishing with a neat angled shot.
Walsall 1-1 Oxford

FA Cup time again, and we show no signs of being a division below QPR as we outplay them throughout the first half. There are no goals, though, and the closest we come is when Nick Culkin almost fumbles a Michael Foley-Sheridan drive over the line. We keep the same level of performance up in the second half, but have trouble scoring. With ten minutes to go, defender Richard Edgehill hauls Asamoah down on the edge of the area and gets sent off for a professional foul.
Oxford 0-0 QPR

If we get through the replay, we’ll face Aston Villa at the Kassam Stadium in the fifth round.

[Katon]

The Wednesday match sees us rest several starters after their Saturday exertions, and our offence suffers predictably. We outplay them in midfield, but no clear chances are forthcoming, even after Derek Asamoah comes on for a fifteen-minute cameo.
Oxford 0-0 Notts County

For the third time this year, I am approached by another Second Division team to take over. Barnsley are the team offering this time; for some reason, I find seventeenth place slightly less attractive than Oxford’s current third position.

With the FA Cup replay in four days, we’re still somewhat below strength for the trip to Chesterfield. We do manage a goal this time, though, Mark Rawle converting his second stab at a Chris Hackett cross. They equalize, however, when Simon Cox spills a long-range shot right to one of their strikers. Fortunately, we retake the lead, Rawle redirecting a deflected Michael Foley-Sheridan shot into the net from an extremely narrow angle. The lead lasts maybe ten minutes before we concede another equalizer from the last of a series of corners. Rawle limps off with ten minutes to go, to be replaced by Derek Asamoah, and it is Asamoah who nets the winner from a Chris Hackett cross in injury time. Chesterfield have an equalizer ruled out for offside, but we hold on.
Chesterfield 2-3 Oxford

With Oxford now into an automatic promotion slot on goal difference, I am approached again with another prospective job, this time by Brentford. I don’t find the middle of the Third Division any more attractive than I did the middle of the Second when Barnsley offered, so I stay put.

QPR are a somewhat more difficult proposition in London than they were up in Oxford; we weather their pressure, though, and go ahead on the verge of half-time when the ball runs to Brian McGlinchey at the corner of the penalty area and he hammers the ball in off the near post. We double the lead midway through the second half when Derek Asamoah wriggles into the area to score from his favorite position at the side of the six-yard box. With a number of QPR players having nightmares, we hold on for the win.
QPR 0-2 Oxford

We’re in second, and fellow Third Division promotees Hull are in sixth, but with them only two points behind us our trip to The Circle (odd name for a stadium) is a big game. We look like a team playing its second game in four days, and are lucky not to fall behind early when a long shot rebounds off the post. We hang on, though, and take an undeserved lead when Derek Asamoah spins his defender and races into the area to beat the keeper just before half-time. Hull threaten throughout the second half, coming close with a number of free kicks, but we hang on and even double our lead when Michael Foley-Sheridan chips the ball into the area for Julian Brooks with five minutes to go.
Hull 0-2 Oxford

I receive some extremely bad news just before the Cup tie with Aston Villa when it turns out that Lee Sims has torn his groin muscle in training and won’t be back for two months. Michael Green is one of my better backups, but now is not the time I would want to be missing a starter.

There’s a goal scored within three minutes of the start of the Villa match, and it’s scored by the good guys. Brian McGlinchey collects a poor clearance and plays a ball in to Mark Rawle, who swivels and shoots the ball into a gap at the near post. They have most of the possession, but with Darius Vassell looking nothing like an England striker we hold on until, with fifteen minutes to go, we strike again. Chris Hackett bursts free and puts Rawle through and Thomas Sorensen’s parry is knocked in by Derek Asamoah.
Oxford 2-0 Aston Villa

Congratulations also to our Second Division promotion rivals Cheltenham, who managed to beat Manchester City 3-0 thanks to a goalkeeping disaster from Nicky Weaver. Their reward? A trip to Arsenal. We have it a little better, traveling to Premiership strugglers Coventry City.

With the first team in need of a rest after the Villa game, now is not a good time to host third-placed Colchester. Still, we don’t do that badly: David Waterman fires off a vicious shot which Simon Brown can only parry to Mark Rawle. They struggle to create real chances, and we double our lead with three minutes to go when Brown completely misses a backpass and Rawle taps in.
Oxford 2-0 Colchester

The physio says most of our stars still need a rest on the Saturday, so it’s a weakened team that travels to struggling Stockport. It’s our relatively strong defence, though, that takes the day off, letting them through the middle several times before they finally capitalize. Even with the big guns coming on, our offence struggles to get us back into it, and they thoroughly deserve the second when it finally comes. We pull one back when Mark Rawle runs onto a huge clearance and slots the ball past the keeper, but though their poor finishing keeps us in the match we can’t manage an equalizer.
Stockport 2-0 Oxford

Michael Foley-Sheridan, the only one of the big guns who actually started the Stockport disaster, limped off partway through with a shoulder injury. With our team stretched thin by the schedule, I opt to bring in another midfielder on loan, and make a bid for Scottish midfielder Graeme Holmes. The bid is accepted, and he joins up. In other news, we finally achieve media recognition, as Chris Hackett wins the Player of the Month award that Derek Asamoah should have had earlier in the season.

Our offence is still a bit subpar against fellow promotion challengers (and FA Cup quarterfinalists) Cheltenham, as we outplay them comfortably but through ninety minutes are limited to one Derek Asamoah chance which he hits at the keeper. Then, on 92 minutes, Mark Rawle picks up the ball in space out wide, runs a short ways into the penalty area, and drills the ball into the net.
Oxford 1-0 Cheltenham

[Katon]

2nd in English Second Division
Squad Screen

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Pass | Tck | Drb | Sh Tar | Av R | Value|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB5 | | Asamoah, D | 35 (6) | 26 | 6 | 8 | 68 % | 1.18 | 3.15 | 69 % | 7.59 | £80K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB3 | | Ashton, J* | 44 (1) | 0 | 12 | 2 | 71 % | 3.36 | 0.98 | 44 % | 7.29 | £55K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Bound, M | 22 (3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 74 % | 1.60 | 0.25 | 75 % | 6.92 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Brooks, J | 34 (7) | 18 | 2 | 2 | 76 % | 0.89 | 0.47 | 78 % | 6.49 | £70K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | | Brown, D | 36 (1) | 1 | 6 | 0 | 70 % | 2.76 | 0.61 | 23 % | 6.65 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Cox, S | 30 (1) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 42 % | - | - | - | 6.81 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB1 | | Creer, A | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 40 % | - | - | - | 5.94 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Foley-Sheridan, M | 43 (1) | 8 | 8 | 3 | 75 % | 3.06 | 0.90 | 32 % | 7.30 | £55K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB4 | | Forrest, E | 19 (1) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 81 % | 1.61 | 0.21 | 100 % | 6.55 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DR | | Green, M | 16 (4) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 61 % | 3.87 | 1.46 | 40 % | 6.95 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MR | Wnt | Hackett, C* | 36 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 53 % | 3.72 | 4.61 | 56 % | 7.58 | £210K|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| AMC | Lst | Holmes, G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 % | 1.00 | - | - | 7.00 | £170K|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | McGlinchey, B | 16 (2) | 1 | 4 | 2 | 66 % | 4.00 | 2.80 | 80 % | 7.50 | £40K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Lst | Otsemobor, J | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 % | 2.30 | 0.13 | - | 7.00 | £130K|
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | Inj | Rawle, M* | 33 (5) | 25 | 6 | 4 | 72 % | 2.47 | 0.93 | 62 % | 7.26 | £50K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Inj | Sims, L | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 70 % | 3.24 | 0.95 | 100 % | 7.15 | £28K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Tate, A | 36 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 73 % | 2.12 | 0.06 | 85 % | 6.58 | £28K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DMC | | Waterman, D | 17 (5) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 80 % | 1.97 | 0.16 | 53 % | 6.86 | £24K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SB2 | Wnt | Whitehead, D | 34 (1) | 2 | 6 | 1 | 78 % | 2.12 | 0.29 | 47 % | 7.06 | £40K |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Katon]

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D.| Pts |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | | Rushden | | 37 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 42 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 34 | 28 | +38 | 74 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | | Oxford | | 37 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 33 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 35 | 23 | +37 | 69 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | | Blackpool | | 37 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 45 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 27 | +32 | 68 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Colchester | | 37 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 49 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 23 | 27 | +27 | 64 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Burnley | | 37 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 30 | +1 | 62 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Cheltenham | | 37 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 44 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 28 | +26 | 60 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | | Hull | | 37 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 39 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 25 | +16 | 60 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Brighton | | 37 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 41 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 17 | 36 | +14 | 60 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Walsall | | 37 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 28 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 22 | +9 | 60 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th| | Cambridge | | 37 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 22 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 33 | 32 | +18 | 59 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th| | Chesterfield | | 37 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 46 | 17 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 24 | 29 | +24 | 58 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th| | Bournemouth | | 37 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 33 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 19 | 24 | +7 | 57 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th| | Barnsley | | 37 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 17 | 42 | -10 | 49 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th| | Plymouth | | 37 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 37 | -11 | 49 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th| | Grimsby | | 37 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 34 | 25 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 32 | -9 | 48 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th| | Wimbledon | | 37 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 27 | 40 | -6 | 44 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th| | Oldham | | 37 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 24 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 34 | -9 | 44 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th| | Stockport | | 37 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 39 | -2 | 43 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th| | Notts Co | | 37 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 17 | 51 | -25 | 41 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th| | Wycombe | | 37 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 26 | 34 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 35 | -23 | 34 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 21st| | Port Vale | | 37 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 38 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 35 | -35 | 33 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 22nd| | Tranmere | | 37 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 29 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 52 | -33 | 31 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 23rd| | Hartlepool | | 37 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 49 | -45 | 29 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 24th| | Peterborough | | 37 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 4 | 43 | -41 | 26 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Katon]

Unfortunately, Michael Foley-Sheridan is still injured for the FA Cup trip to Coventry. Within ten minutes of the kickoff, he is joined by Simon Cox, our goalkeeper forced off to be replaced by Allan Creer. Tbe plan against Premiership clubs during our cup run has been to sit back, defend, and hope to score on the break, and we almost pull a counterattack off midway through the first half, Derek Asamoah putting his shot a bit too close to the keeper. They have most of the possession, though, and Creer is forced into a good save when they swing a free kick into the box during first half injury time. We don’t heed the warning, though, and wind up conceding early in the second half when Jonathan Ashton gets caught in possession to give them a three-on-two break. Chris Hackett almost gets an equalizer after stripping a defender of the ball near the half-way line, but he fires over, and they soon double their lead to put the result beyond doubt. We charge forward, more in hope than expectation, and concede a third late on, before promptly getting a consolation goal when a magnificent ball from David Waterman (on for the disappointing Dean Whitehead) plays in fellow sub Jamie Brooks.
Coventry 3-1 Oxford

The midweek game is a trip to league leaders Rushden that could have huge implications for our promotion hopes. For one thing, a win would put us one point behind them and three ahead of third with only eight games to go. The trouble for most of Rushden’s opponents this season has been keeping Onandi Lowe under wraps, with the Jamaican international having hit twenty league goals and set up nineteen more already this season while being the division’s best player by a huge margin. I detail Jon Ostemobor to mark him out of the match, and although Ostemobor doesn’t look particularly impressive Lowe is nonetheless restricted to the occasional free kick, which he curls narrowly round the post. We then receive a boost early in the second half when Rushden defender Dean West picks up his second yellow card and Rushden find themselves playing a 3-3-3. Rushden continue to have the majority of the play, but with their poor finishing keeping us in the game we have the occasional chance to win it, such as Dean Whitehead’s low drive from a Danny Brown corner that flashes narrowly the wrong side of the post. In the end, it is Rushden’s narrow formation that almost proves the difference. The gaps created by the absence of a fullback are exploited by Graham Holmes, who draws a defender towards him on the left wing before crossing for the newly-open Jamie Brooks. We concede an equalizer, however, when Ostemobor caps his worst performance in an Oxford shirt by giving the ball away and Lowe finishes the ensuing counterattack.
Rushden 1-1 Oxford

After a disappointing week, we come back to the Kassam Stadium to find midtable Grimsby ready to spoil things. They aren’t particularly interested in playing actual football; we spend the first half dominating possession and being fouled. They come out of those first 45 minutes with no fewer than four bookings. We’re in control, but with Foley-Sheridan injured and Derek Asamoah and Chris Hackett still tired from the FA Cup run we can’t find a goal.
Oxford 0-0 Grimsby

Oxford may not be in the best of form right now, but we’re still playing better (relative to our size) than Middlesbrough. Our FA Cup Third Round opponents continue to be mired in lower-midtable, and have recently sacked Steve McClaren.

Asamoah’s back for the visit of Bournemouth, and it is he who gives us the lead after Mark Rawle crosses from the byline. He almost scores again, when Rawle slides the ball across to leave the goalkeeper out of position, but the shot is just outside the post. Five minutes into the second half, Rawle gets put clean through on the breakaway. His first shot is parried; his second isn’t. They get one goal back, a nasty drive from the edge of the area, but with time ticking down we’re still in the lead. Then the ref signals for four minutes of injury time. We can hold out for three before they score.
Oxford 2-2 Bournemouth

[Katon]

Tranmere are only two points out of the relegation zone, and we get shown exactly why ten minutes into our trip to Prenton Park. The ball is played back to a Tranmere defender, who Derek Asamoah quickly closes down. There are three defenders in the area, and only one Oxford player, but it’s Asamoah who comes out on the other side with the ball and hammers the ball in off the keeper’s hand. Number two comes on the half-hour mark, when Asamoah runs onto a long ball out by the corner flag, dribbles past a defender, and scores from a tight angle. Asamoah becomes the first Oxford player to score a hat-trick this season just before the break, when he curls a free kick into the near corner from the edge of the area. We spend the rest of the match in second gear, creating chances to add to the lead but never taking them.
Tranmere 0-3 Oxford

Our next opposition is right down there with Tranmere. Wycombe are only one point ahead of last week’s victims, who now occupy the last relegation slot, and they don’t have much more of an idea of how to stop Derek Asamoah, who crosses for Julian Brooks to open the scoring midway through the first half. We score twice more on counterattacks just before the break, first with Brooks running onto a long ball from Brian McGlinchey and then with Brooks completing his hattrick in a near replica of the first. Asamoah adds number four from a Matthew Bound ball midway through the second half, before Brooks collects a Jonathan Ashton throw-in and spins the keeper to add the fifth on the verge of injury time.
Wycombe 0-5 Oxford

With third-placed Blackpool beating fourth-placed Hull, the automatic promotion race is coming clear. There are three teams with a real shot at the top two slots: leaders Rushden, on 81 points with a goal difference of +40 after a recent slump; us, on 78 points with a goal difference of +45 after the two recent routs; and Blackpool, on 78 points with a goal difference of +35. Just to add a little bit of spice, our last game of the season is at home to Blackpool. Hopefully, we’ll only need a draw from that match to go up.

Although they’re not in a particularly impressive league position, Wimbledon recently beat Rushden and so we have to take then seriously. Jonathan Ashton gives them a penalty with what is judged to be a push just fifteen minutes in, only for Allan Creer to parry the spot-kick. Having survived that, we go on to take the lead through a ferocious Michael Foley-Sheridan drive midway through the half that their goalie gets a hand to but can’t stop. This is the cue for Dean Whitehead to start trying to imitate Foley-Sheridan. Unfortunately, he isn’t as good at long shots as Foley-Sheridan, and so it takes us until the hour mark before Derek Asamoah latches on to a Brian McGlinchey cross to double our lead. Julian Brooks adds the third right at the death, tapping in a Whitehead free kick at the far post.
Oxford 3-0 Wimbledon

In other action today, Colchester beat Blackpool 5-1 at home. This means that we are now three points clear in the last promotion slot with a comfortable goal difference advantage and three matches to play.

Like Wimbledon, Plymouth are not among the division’s better teams; like Wimbledon, they recently beat Rushden. Unlike Wimbledon, they have some success at preventing us from converting our dominance into goals. This is helped by the fact that our game plan seems to consist of letting Michael Foley-Sheridan and Dean Whitehead whack the ball goalward from great distances. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t work.
Oxford 0-0 Plymouth

In spite of his failure to score against Plymouth, Jamie Brooks is awarded the Second Division Young Player of the Month award, mostly for his demolition of Wycombe.

While Rushden and Blackpool face off at Bloomfield Road, we take what is now a one-point lead over Blackpool to Burnley. If we win and Blackpool don’t then our vast goal-difference advantage means we’re essentially up; if they win and we don’t then they’ll be ahead heading into their trip to the Kassam Stadium; otherwise we’ll be in pole position for the last-day duel. We get off to a flyer when a Jamie Brooks cross deflects off a defender, loops over the keeper, and finds Derek Asamoah at the far post. Asamoah doubles our lead half an hour later, collecting a long ball before turning his defender and placing the ball just inside the far post. Our third comes on the hour, when Alan Tate opens his Oxford account from a Brian McGlinchey corner.
Burnley 0-3 Oxford

Even better news than our scoreline comes from Blackpool, where Rushden substitute defender Andy Edwards headed in an equalizer with three minutes left to earn his side a 1-1 draw. The effect of this is that we are now three points ahead of Blackpool, with a goal difference of +51 to their +32. They’re not going to beat us by ten. We’re up.

With promotion essentially clinched, the main story on the last day is Derek Asamoah. With 28 league goals, he’s two goals ahead of two different strikers for the league lead. Can he hold on? Can he make it to 30? Well, with one of the season’s more boring games petering out into a goalless draw, he stays on 28, but neither of his competitors score either, so he wins the division Golden Boot anyway.
Oxford 0-0 Blackpool

To their credit, Blackpool bounce back from their failure to win automatic promotion and manage to win the playoffs, including an impressive 4-0 annihilation of Cambridge in the final.

I’m not entirely sure what the point is in giving a Player of the Month award for a month featuring two games, but Chris Hackett has been declared the May Player of the Month for whatever that’s worth.

Just when the two consecutive months with Oxford people winning awards might have led you to believe the media was getting over its bias, they go and have a relapse. I’ll pass over the Second Division Manager of the Year vote – Rushden in first, Oxford in second, Blackpool in third, how on earth did they come up with that order? – so we can get to the Division Select.

We have three players in the Division Select – Michael Foley-Sheridan and Chris Hackett starting, and Derek Asamoah on the subs’ bench. No Jonathan Ashton, even though there were only two non-strikers in the entire league with higher average ratings than him; in fact, Brian McGlinchey, one of those two non-strikers (Hackett was the other) is also completely absent, although considering that he spent half the year playing for Plymouth reserves McGlinchey’s absence is more defensible. There’s also the small matter of Asamoah being benched in favor of Colchester’s Wayne Andrews. The two of them have the same average rating (actually .01 edge to Asamoah, but who cares about .01?), but Asamoah had more goals and assists while playing on the division’s second-placed team. Why Andrews?

[Katon]

Thanks for reading. It's nice to hear the dynasty style's working.

Most clubs might be having financial difficulties, but Oxford actually aren't. We've made about £3,000,000 over the two years I've been in charge - partly because we're getting very good attendance, but mostly because of all these cup runs.