Oxford United secured their Championship status with an enthralling 2-0 win at home against Sunderland.
The U’s scored in each half at Grenoble Road to keep their second tier position intact for next season.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Oxford United Win Against Sunderland
Midfield Battle
In recent weeks, Oxford have struggled in the middle of the park but against the Black Cats, they dominated in that area.
Will Vaulks and Cameron Brannagan were allowed to dictate play from the deeper role while Ruben Rodrigues had arguably one of his best performances of the season just in front.
The Portuguese was as effective off the ball as he was on it, causing plenty of problems for the Sunderland defence while holding the ball up in transition.
Defenders Leading the Line
Not for the first time this season, it was the Oxford defenders that scored the all important goals for the U’s.
Ben Nelson netted his first Oxford goal in the first half, heading home from a well worked free kick, before Michal Helik pounced on the rebound of a Cameron Brannagan free kick in the second half to secure the win.
Oxford did look better in open play but set pieces were, once again, the area where they looked the most threatening.
Also in defence, the entire unit looked organised and disciplined and were fully deserving of their clean sheet.
Championship Status Secured
But let’s face it, the biggest talking point of the game, and the season as a whole, was keeping their Championship status intact for another campaign.
Oxford have only been in the bottom three once this season and that came following a 4-0 defeat at Leeds between Des Buckingham’s departure and Gary Rowett’s arrival, but results have gone against them in recent weeks so seeing it over the line will be a massive confidence boost.
The club have a significantly smaller budget to the majority of other clubs in the division so to achieve what they did is deserving of a mention.
