Oxford United Through to the First Round of the FA Cup

Oxford United has beaten Hayes and Yeading and is now through to the first round of the FA Cup. The draw was made on October 26th and fresh from hosting Hayes; Dorchester will now be the team travelling to Oxfordshire for a game which will be played on November 8th.

Once again Oxford will face Blue Square South opposition; this time however, the Blue Square South opponents are of a much lower quality. Whereas Hayes is a high flying Blue Square South side, Dorchester is a team that currently sits 19th in the league, a massive 14 points below Hayes and Yeading United; a team Oxford comfortably defeated 2-0.

Last time Oxford United played Dorchester was November 1995; on that occasion Oxford recorded its greatest ever win of 9-1. That was also in the first round of the FA Cup, at the time though Oxford was in Division Two (what is now League One), and was to be promoted the following season to Division One (the Championship) along with rival team Swindon Town.

With only one league’s difference; a 9-1 win will probably not this time be on the cards for United, fans will still be expecting a comfortable victory however and could then potentially face a high profile away game against a team such as Leeds United, Leicester City, or even local rivals Swindon. Failing that; an easy second round draw would be excellent, reaching the FA Cup Third Round could mean a potential battle against a Premier League giant such as Chelsea or Man United.

The last time Oxford United reached the third round of the FA Cup was in the 2002/03 season; on that occasion we played an away game at Arsenal and lost the match 2-0; hardly a disgrace of a result. Another high profile third round tie such as this would be a dream come true for Oxford; at current we don’t own our own stadium and money is therefore very hard to come by. An FA Cup away trip such as this and we’ll be secure for the season.

We’ll need to get past Dorchester and another unknown team yet, for the time being the FA Cup dream is still very much alive for Oxford United though and who knows what the next couple of months will have in store for us. However far we get in the cup; Oxford United will still remain the football club I love, and forever this will remain to be true.


Many apologies for being so slow to update about this one; I’ve been quite busy setting up a new music blog and a new football blog also.