Having picked up successive 4-0 victories, Des Buckingham’s Oxford United faced a tricky encounter this week when they welcomed promotion rivals, Peterborough.
Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Striker Linked and Promotion Push Still On
U’s ‘Chasing’ Southend Striker
Oxford are one of several Football League clubs keeping an eye on Southend striker, Harry Cardwell, according to Football Insider.
Rotherham, Bolton, Exeter and Gillingham are all believed to be interested in the 27-year-old.
The former Reading striker has scored 17 goals and added four assists from 37 National League appearances.
Oxford Smash Promotion Rivals
Having won their last two games with successive 4-0 victories, there was much anticipation ahead of Oxford’s home game against promotion rivals, Peterborough.
Mark Harris gave the U’s the lead from the spot before Josh Murphy added a second following a defensive error.
Ruben Rodrigues finished off a brilliant counter attack before Owen Dale hit the post and missed a sitter before the break.
Despite that, the U’s did add a fourth after the restart when Rodrigues smashed home a bullet header from a Fin Stevens cross before Billy Bodin delicately chipped a fifth goal in late on.
With Lincoln losing, the U’s are now three points clear of seventh placed Blackpool, who have played a game more. They are also just two points behind fifth placed Barnsley.
‘That’s Certainly the Best Football We’ve Played Since I’ve Been Here’
Understandably, U’s head coach Des Buckingham was full of praise of Oxford’s performance against the Posh.
Speaking after the game, he said: “That’s certainly the best football we’ve played since I’ve been here.
“We’ve spoken a lot about arriving at this stage in a good space and making sure that during that period when we had all those injuries, we would put ourselves in a strong position.
“We’ve seen over the past couple of weeks a really clear understanding of how we want to play and what we want to do.
“I thought the players today were excellent across the pitch, especially considering we lost Elliott (Moore) and Cam (Brannagan) late yesterday, so full credit to them for that performance.”
