Oxford United bounced back from their home defeat against Swansea with a narrow victory over Hull at Grenoble Road.
The visiting side were on top for large spells of the game but Hidde ter Avest netted the game’s only goal on his full debut.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Oxford United Win Against Hull
Starting Line-up and Formation
There’s only one place to start as Des Buckingham made five changes from the side that lost against the Swans last time out.
And it wasn’t just a change in personnel but also formation, with the U’s lining up with a back three of Ciaron Brown, Elliott Moore and Ben Nelson.
Josh McEachran and Will Vaulks were deployed together in the middle of the park with Greg Leigh and ter Avest as the wing-backs.
Idris El Mizouni returned to the line-up in place of Louie Sibley, who has been ruled out for four two six weeks, with Tyler Goodrham also in an attacking role behind Dane Scarlett.
On the hour mark, Nelson went down with an injury and this already-depleted squad lost another key player, but Sam Long put in a solid display.
Mark Harris replaced Scarlett but offered little in the final third while Peter Kioso came on for the goalscorer and put in a solid 20 minutes.
Hull Dominance
Oxford have started slowly in recent games but the press from Buckingham’s side penned the visitors back early doors.
Unfortunately, that didn’t last and the Tigers controlled the rest of the first half. If it wasn’t for a lack of a killer instinct in front of goal, they could have gone into the break two or three goals up. A few shots were off target, Cumming made a great save and they also struck the post.
And that continued after the restart with Hull on top for the first ten minutes but Oxford’s goal ultimately changed the game. From there, the visitors were still the likelier team to find the next goal but the U’s managed the final 20 minutes well to hold out for the three points.
Hull ended the game with three times the amount of shots, 62 per cent possession and plenty more passes, but ultimately that proved to be irrelevant as Oxford scored one of their two chances.
Defensive Resilience
Despite being on the back foot, the Oxford defence were solid, resolute and organised in difficult circumstances.
A change of system would have put strain on the defence, along with the change of personnel in the wide areas with ter Avest making just his second appearance. Oxford only had two shots on target and they were both from the goalscorer with Leigh delivering a deep cross, so not only was their defensive resilience, the duo were also the most threatening attacking output.
