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When League One’s basement-dwellers Forest Green Rovers arrived in Oxfordshire last Saturday, Karl Robinson‘s side were heavy favourites to take all three points and move themselves into the top half of the standings.
Things started well when James Henry put The U’s in the lead within 20 minutes, but a second-half performance that Robinson described as his side’s worst all season allowed the visitors to equalise and force a share of the spoils – with a point quite generous to an Oxford team who barely posed a threat after the interval.
That stalemate against Rovers extended Oxford’s unbeaten run to six games in the league, but with four of those fixtures ending in 1-1 draws, United have struggled to climb the League One table and are sitting in 13th position, six points behind sixth-placed Barnsley.
Newly-appointed chief executive Tim Williams has stated his aim to make Oxford United a top-30 club within the English game as well as regulars in the Championship, an ambition that led club officials to visit Formula 1 team Alpine this week as they look to learn about recovery from their sports science staff.
A battling first-round success at non-league Woking was as far away from the glitz and glamour of Formula 1 as possible, but nevertheless Oxford fans saw a different side to their team in that hard-earned win at The Laithwaite Community Stadium which bodes well for Saturday’s second-round match.
2-0 home defeat to Ipswich Town last weekend continued Exeter’s trend of struggling against the bigger names in League One, with Caldwell’s men suffering 4-2 losses to Plymouth Argyle, Charlton Athletic and Saturday’s opponents Oxford over the past two months.
Jevani Brown has enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign for the Grecians, providing nine goals and eight assists in 18 games so far, meaning he tops the league’s goal-contribution chart alongside Bristol Rovers’ Aaron Collins.
Twenty-eight-year-old Brown was at the double in Exeter’s 3-2 win at fellow League One side Port Vale in the first round, with another tricky tie against capable third-tier opposition between them and a coveted place in the third-round draw.
Oxford winger Billy Bodin is a doubt for Saturday after being forced off after 23 minutes in the draw with Forest Green, with the Welshman’s departure in the match correlating with The U’s deteriorating performance.
Robinson will be able to call on the services of Jodi Jones this weekend, with the 25-year-old back from playing for Malta in friendlies against Greece and Ireland during this unprecedented international break.
Marcus McGuane only made a substitute appearance last time out with Robinson confirming the player was suffering from fatigue, but the former Barcelona man should return to the starting XI in this game.
Exeter’s Rekeem Harper was unable to play against Ipswich last weekend due to the terms of his loan deal from Portman Road but will be back in contention on Saturday as he looks to add to his 13 starts in all competitions.
Long-term absentee Kyle Taylor remains out for the Grecians after sustaining a serious knee injury in March against Oldham Athletic, with a timeline for his return not yet established.
Oxford United possible starting lineup:
Eastwood; Anderson, Long, Findlay, Brown; McGuane, Brannagan, Henry, Browne, Goodrham; Taylor
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Blackman; Key, Sweeney, Hartridge; Caprice, Collins, Kite, Sparkes, Dieng; Stansfield, Brown
In the week that the Bulls lost their most famous ex-player, FA Cup legend Ronnie Radford – 50 years on from his iconic match-winning goal against Newcastle – it briefly looked like there might be some left-over magic in the air.
For seven minutes, the sixth-tier outfit led after Miles Storey’s goal against the team 81 places above them in the English football pyramid in League One.
But Pompey hit back, with Reeco Hackett quickly levelling before second-half goals from Colby Bishop and substitute Joe Pigott earned the twice FA Cup winners a safe passage to Monday’s second-round draw
Making their first trip to Edgar Street in 38 years, Pompey were given a good first-half workout by the fired-up hosts.
Although home keeper Dale Eve had to keep out Hackett’s left-foot curler bound for the top corner, Pompey had a first real scare when Bishop’s challenge on Hereford’s former million-pound marksman Tyrone Barnett in the visitors’ penalty box went unpunished.
And there was worse to follow for Pompey when Hereford took the lead on 26 minutes.
Sean Raggett played a loose pass inside to Hackett, who was immediately closed down and robbed by Storey – and the former Pompey player raced away down the inside-left channel before keeping his cool to nutmeg on-loan West Bromwich Albion keeper Josh Griffiths.
Fittingly, just two days on from the announcement of the sad passing of Hereford’s legendary number 11, their modern-day number 11 emulated his predecessor.
There had already been a minute’s silence, which cascaded into applause from the whole ground, followed by chants of ‘there’s only one Ronnie Radford’ when the clock showed 11 minutes.
But this goal was destined not to prove so famous.
Ronan Curtis headed down Connor Ogilvie’s far-post cross for Hackett to bring down and fire home coolly from six yards.
On 63 minutes, Portsmouth took the lead when, from Clark Robertson’s in-swinging right-foot corner from the left, Bishop timed his run to get there first and head his 10th goal of the season.
And Pigott wrapped up victory 10 minutes from time when, again from a corner by skipper Robertson, Bishop won the initial header before Pigott reacted sharpest to sidefoot home
Hereford FC boss Josh Gowling told BBC Sport:
“I’m really disappointed because we should have got something out of it, but goals change games – and the quality of the delivery they have changes games.
“In the first half we were excellent. We were in the ascendancy and they looked nervous.
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“We were on top and looked like we could go on and win, but we’ve made one mistake, it has cost us a goal and that’s the difference in levels.
“We’ve given them a leg up and a little lift and you could see their performance raise after that.”
Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley told BBC Sport:
“I was so sad to hear the news about Ronnie Radford. He was such an iconic figure and he had that iconic moment. For a lot of people my age, his famous goal was their first memories of the FA Cup. But what a brilliant night to celebrate his life