Oxford United picked up just their second away win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
Gary Rowett made six changes from the side that lost against QPR last time out and it was one of them in Sam Long who headed home the winner.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Oxford United Win at Sheffield Wednesday
Line-Up and Substitutes
Rowett made six changes from the side that were defeated at home against fellow strugglers, QPR, on Wednesday night.
Two were enforced with Ciaron Brown missing through injury and Hidde ter Avest absent with concussion so Joe Bennett and Long replaced the duo at full-back.
The other changes were all attacking, with Stan Mills, who scored against the R’s, Alex Matos, Tyler Goodrham and Tom Bradshaw all coming in for Przemyslaw Placheta, Ole Romeny, Siriki Dembele and Mark Harris.
Rowett made a triple change on 63 minutes, with some fans questioning both the timing and the personnel.
Harris was a straight swap for Bradshaw while there was also an introduction for Matt Phillips and Ruben Rodrigues, despite having players on the bench that have played more minutes of late.
Placheta, one of those players to have featured regularly, did come on for Goodrham just one minute before Oxford scored.
Vaulks Long Throw Again
We touched on it recently how important Will Vaulks’ long throws will be. Of course, it’s not the prettiest of ways to score or win games of football but at this stage of the season, putting points on the board is all that matters.
The U’s have struggled to score from open play and while they did create some decent chances at Hillsborough, particularly in the first half, a long throw remains Oxford’s most deadly attacking threat.
Vaulks, a former Wednesday midfielder, launched the ball deep into the opposition box and it was nodded into the path of Long who headed home his first Championship goal for his hometown club.
Clean Sheet
Despite unconvincing defeats against Middlesbrough and QPR, Oxford have now picked up three wins from their last five and all have come without conceding.
In those five games, the U’s have taken the lead in four but it’s been important that they’ve managed shutouts in three of them.
Under Rowett, Oxford have only lost games by a single goal (excluding a late goal in games against West Brom, Portsmouth and QPR) so taking the lead and holding on isn’t necessarily an issue.
