The Oxbridge double header that never was

The Oxbridge double-header or at least it should have been. Imagine mine and everyone’s surprise as midday approached on Saturday afternoon and the official club account tweeted about the postponement of the afternoon’s festivities against Oxford United.

Imagine how it must have felt for hundreds of Oxford fans well on their way through a 165 mile journey up to Wigan. Many of those Oxford fans had already arrived in Wigan.

Closer to home I had two disappointed boys ready to go with money burning a hole in their pockets that they were hoping to spend in the club shop on Crusty related merchandise whilst the club will have lost un-told thousands in wasted food, un-required stewards and stadium staff whilst any potential re-arranged match will come with a much lower crowd than the original match would have had.

All leading to a drop in income, which is vital at this level of football. So, when Karl Robinson speaks about doing everything possible to get a match on, I’m highly sceptical. Why only conduct Lateral Flow tests on the day of the game, surely these should have been done pre travel or at least on arrival in the Northwest on the Friday evening.

Oxford only travelled with one goalkeeper which seems ridiculous in the circumstances, earlier this season when Jamie Jones was unavailable due to injury Sam Tickle took his place on the bench, despite being an academy goalkeeper. Why didn’t Oxford travel with an academy goalkeeper on Friday, this isn’t a rare occurrence it’s very much the rule across the rest of the division.

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and one would hope the EFL examine the circumstances of Saturday’s postponement especially with Karl Robinson’s fury when similar happened to his side last season when Swindon pulled out at the last minute due to covid. At least Oxford had two days’ notice then, not the less than three hours we had.

Spare a thought for Latics fan Michael Jackson who had travelled all the way from Atlanta Georgia to take in Saturday’s match at the DW Stadium before finding out it had been called off.

Thankfully, the club made a fuss of him and gave him a tour of the stadium and training ground before he was whisked off to Ashton Town to see their win over Cleator Moor Celtic. Wiganer’s know how to treat visitors and hopefully Michael enjoyed his weekend despite the disappointment.

Michael was also present as Latics came from behind to grab a vital point at Cambridge on Tuesday evening. A match that I’m still struggling to see how we didn’t win, despite being 2-0 down with just six minutes left.

Leam Richardson’s side showed no signs of that expected rustiness (as Tuesday’s match was our first league outing since beating Fleetwood three weeks previously) with better finishing Latics could have been out of sight by half-time.

Sadly, we didn’t show that better finishing and instead two speculative balls into the box, Cambridge’s only chances saw us staring down the barrel of another Tuesday night defeat.

But there’s some team spirit in this squad and the introductions of Thelo Aasgaard and Jordan Jones gave Leam’s side the impetus to get something. Two goals really should have been three, but a very minor shirt pull from Callum Lang was spotted in the build-up to our disallowed third goal meaning that a point was all we would get.

Nonetheless it’s a point no one expected at 80 minutes and a great platform from which to start another winning run, starting at former table toppers Plymouth who may well be in the middle of their own sticky patch. Especially after their defeat to Wycombe this week.

There’s a long way to go in this season, injuries are beginning to bite but we’re still well within the mix and exceeding all expectations this season. Roll on Saturday, it’s never dull.

Sean Livesey

*NB this piece was submitted before the terrible news about Charlie Wyke was revealed. It goes without saying our thoughts are with Charlie and his family at this difficult time.

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