Match preview: Sunderland vs Oxford United – everything you need to know before kick-off!

Saturday, October 26, 2024

(1.) Sunderland vs. Oxford United (11.)

championship

Stadium of Light

Kick-off: 3:00 p.m

Tickets and match coverage

Tickets: Tickets are available here.

TV/Stream: Full live coverage of the match will be available via www.safc.com only to residents outside the UK and Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the detailed coverage of the game on Roker Report’s Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and see the player ratings after the final whistle below www.RokerReport.com!

The structure…

Today’s game feels like we’re going back to our days in League One – in fact we hadn’t played Oxford United this century before we returned to League Three.

Their last visit was just under three years ago, and if anyone needs a little reminder of how far we’ve come in three short years, just take a look at the lineups below. Only Dan Neil remains of the starting XI and Anthony Patterson was the only other player in today’s squad to be on the bench that day.

This time we go into the same game sitting three points ahead of Burnley and Leeds United at the top of the table after a week of answering questions about the direction our away form might be heading.

Today we return to the Stadium of Light with the second-best home record in the division, where we remain unbeaten and only Blackburn Rovers have taken more points – despite playing one more game on home soil.

After impressive away wins, today’s game, where we might have expected three points, feels like a potential banana peel. Let’s hope it’s not the coupon buster of the afternoon.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

As mentioned, we didn’t face our current opponents until we were relegated to League One in May 2018, but Oxford are back in the league for the first time since our record-breaking 1998/99 season in which we won the title with 105 points second league.

This came thanks to a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the play-off final in a season that saw coach Liam Manning take over the vacant post at Bristol City in November.

The choice of his successor was somewhat left-wing. Oxford-born Les Buckingham, who was a youth player for the club at the start of the century, worked as a coach in New Zealand, where his reputation grew and he eventually took over as manager of Mumbai City in the Indian Super League.

After taking the job, he led the U’s to promotion in his first season – not a bad start. Of course, that meant they would be favorites to avoid direct relegation to League One in pre-season, but so far they are holding up well.

But despite the fact that they are unbeaten in their last five games, they haven’t won in the last six years and they haven’t won on Wearside since 1994 – so it’s safe to assume they’d be happy to get six draws in a row series this afternoon.

Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images

The bets…

The Lads have a 4/7 chance of taking all three points today, while an away win for Oxford is rated at 24/5 and the draw at 16/5.

Head to head… at Sunderland

(For all competitions at Roker Park/Stadium of Light)

• Sunderland wins: 11
• Draws: 5
• Oxford United wins: 2
• Sunderland goals: 32
• Oxford United goals: 10

The last time we met… was at the Stadium of Light

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Sky Bet League One

Sunderland 1-1 Oxford United

[Dajaku 7’ – Taylor 36’]

Sunderland: Hoffmann, Flanagan, Wright, Doyle, Gooch, Neil, Winchester, Dajaku (Embleton), Pritchard (O’Brien), Broadhead, Stewart Substitutes not used: Patterson, Johnson, Dyce, Younger, Kimpioka

Oxford United: Eastwood, Forde, Long, Henry (McGuane), McNally, Moore, Whyte, Brannagan, Taylor (Agyei), Kane, Holland (Sykes) Substitutes not used: Plumley, Thorniley, Williams, Bodin

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Played for both…

Andy Melville

Oxford United seem to be one of those clubs where players played for both teams, particularly in the years when Denis Smith and Malcolm Crosby managed the Manor Ground – and from that list we take Andy Melville.

Melville began his career at Swansea City, where he spent the first four years before moving to Oxford United in the summer of 1990. It would be three years before Terry Butcher signed the Wales international for a fee of £500,000 – although the deal also included Anton Rogan in return.

Melville spent six successful years on Wearside making over 200 appearances. A top-class defender of his era, he missed only two league games in his final season as Sunderland won the second division in 1999 with 105 points. This was followed by spells at Fulham, West Ham United and Nottingham Forest before retiring in 2005.

And you can listen to us talk to him about his career on the Roker Rapport podcast here.

Photo by Matthew Ashton/EMPICS via Getty Images