[themaclad]

Less than a thousand minutes left this season, we only have one 3pm Saturday home game left this season, suspect a few are having thoughts of long summery days lying on a recliner supping Gin and Tonic.By the time we kick off probably be on the 7th Ayatollah this week.
Good news Wolves v Liverpool is also on the box for those who want to watch a Cup Tie
Oxford's youth team played ours yesterday drew 2 all, one Ben Davies scored for them

www.oufc.co.uk/

MANAGER

Matthew James Bloomfield (born 8 February 1984) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently head coach of EFL Championship club Oxford United.

A product of Ipswich Town's academy, Bloomfield joined Wycombe Wanderers on a free transfer in 2003, having made just two EFL Cup appearances for Ipswich. He spent 19 years with Wycombe, playing for the club in League Two, League One and the Championship, and was in the team that reached the semi-final of the 2006–07 Football League Cup. At the start of his final professional season in 2021, he was named as a first team coach, in addition to his role as a player.

Following his retirement in 2022, he moved into full-time management, initially with Colchester United in EFL League Two, before returning to manage Wycombe in February 2023. He left Wycombe in January 2025 for the vacant managerial role at Luton Town, but was dismissed nine months later. He was appointed head coach of Oxford United in January 2026.

MATT TOOK LUTON DOWN LAST SEASON SUSPECT OXFORD WILL MAKE IT A DOUBLE


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FORM GUIDE





PNE 6 0XFORD 7

HOTSHOTS



Oxford United's squad consists of 35 players. Goalkeepers: Jacob Knightbridge (England), Jamie Cumming (England), Simon Eastwood (England), Matt Ingram (Scotland). Defenders: Sam Long (England), Ciaron Brown (Northern Ireland), Michal Helik (Poland), Brodie Spencer (Northern Ireland), Gregory Leigh (Jamaica), Hidde ter Avest (Netherlands), Jack Currie (England), Ben Davies (England), Christ Makosso (Congo). Midfielders: Will Vaulks (Wales), Yunus Emre Konak (Turkiye), Cameron Brannagan (England), Brian De Keersmaecker (Belgium), Tyler Goodrham (England), Jamie Donley (Northern Ireland), Joshua Johnson (England), Jamie McDonnell (Northern Ireland), Myles Peart-Harris (England). Forwards: Przemyslaw Placheta (Poland), Mark Harris (Wales), Aidomo Emakhu (Ireland), Ole Romeny (Indonesia), Ruben Roosken (Netherlands), Nik Prelec (Slovenia), Stanley Mills (England), Siriki Dembele (Scotland), Will Lankshear (England), Jin-Woo Jeon (South Korea), Gatlin O'Donkor (England), Mo Missanga (England), Leo Snowden (England).

Oxford United transfers: New signings include Aidomo Emakhu (from Millwall), Ruben Roosken (from Huddersfield), Christ Makosso (from Luton), Jin-Woo Jeon (from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC), Jamie McDonnell (from Nottm Forest) and 10 more. Players transferred out include Stephan Negru (to Tranmere), Jordan Thorniley (to Free agent), Matthew Phillips (to Free agent), Tom Bradshaw (to Barnsley), Louie Sibley (to Bradford) and 12 more.

THE VIEW OF MAC

Need a win, simple as that.

[themaclad]

Team News​
Paul Heckingbottom continues to have a large majority of his squad to select from, with Brad Potts and Robbie Brady both appearing against Millwall.

Daniel Iversen remains sidelined and is still on the road back to full fitness.
The Visitors​
Oxford United have struggled in their second season as a Championship club, and head into this match sitting 23rd in the table.

The U’s did secure a huge win over fellow strugglers West Brom last time out and arrive at Deepdale just three points shy of safety.

Matt Bloomfield has been in charge at the Kassam Stadium since January 2026 and has picked up good results against Coventry City and Middlesbrough thus far.

Match Officials​
Referee: Andrew Kitchen

Assistant Referees: George Byrne and Matthew Smith

Fourth Official: Adam Herczeg

Andrew Kitchen will officiate North End’s clash with Millwall at Deepdale.

He last took charge of a match involving PNE when the Lilywhites were defeated by West Brom earlier this term.

He has handed out 76 yellow and two red cards in 25 matches this season.

[themaclad]

https://www.fotmob.com/matches/preston-v...tab=lineup

Referee: Andrew Kitchen

Attendance: 14,009 (576 Oxford fans)

The one thing about playing Friday night is, you can get the misery out of the way before Saturday comes, on last night's performance even the hapless aps at White Hart Lane would be able to beat us.
Oxford could have been out of site by half time, the result didn't flatter the one little bit, another hapless display from a team tootally lacking in confidence and literally no idea what to do when the ball is crossed into rhe box.
One down early on, free kick into box, Helik in front of Gibson(had a shocker) bundled ball home, could have been two minutes later, second phase chipped into six yard area, Brown headed over.
Level on 12 minutes, may have been a hand ball by Dobbin early in the move, great ball into box Osmajic heads home.
Fairly even for a time, but Donley shot wide and then Mills made a 80 yard run before firing wide.
A chaotic 60 second period, pin ball in their area, they break away almost score when Cornell denies Lankshear.
Finally start to get the upper hand until the mysterious goalkeeper injury occured.
Half time level but not for long, we balls up a free kick and within 60 seconds shot from outside the box deflected in by Lankshear.
They soon get a third Brown outmuscles Gibson to flick past Cornell, the feeling of doom over the ground, people left as the fire drill kicked in early, a Devine run and shot offered a slight bit of resistance but the game had long gone as had many of our fans.
Shambles

HECK

Paul Heckingbottom was disappointed to see his side lose 3-1 against Oxford United at Deepdale.

The away side led early on through Michal Helik, but Milutin Osmajić’s header brought North End level soon after.

Two more goals in the second 45 secured all three points for the away side, with PNE’s boss not pleased with the manner in which the Lilywhites conceded their goals.

“Really disappointing,” stated Hecky. “It's always about the result, but the manner of the goals we conceded made the game really, really difficult for us.

“We know what they've been doing, and we've been really weak in key moments and given poor goals away, which has made the game really difficult for us.

“You've just got to be stronger. We didn't defend our box well at all. We gave a really sloppy goal away to start with. But we did really well to come back in because it was us with the ball.

“But then, second, third phase, not dealing with the balls in our box. Forwards getting the wrong side of us. So, we just didn't defend our box well enough today.”

Callum Lang looked bright for PNE during the first-half, but was forced off shortly before the break through injury.

North End’s boss provided an update on the forward’s situation, whilst admitting that his departure had changed the way his team attacked.


“Yes, it did,” admitted Hecky. “But we brought Jebbo, and he had good moments then.

“But then, when we were chasing, we put Jebbo more central and we kept trying to add attacking players on the pitch. But when we've given those goals away, it's difficult because Oxford have been working away, just setting up to defend their box, doing it really well.

“Once they're 3-1 up, we huffed, we puffed. We had balls flashing across, but we certainly didn't have the same desire and aggression in their box as they had in ours. Or flip that, they defended their box better than we defended ours.

“I saw that he obviously went down holding his ankle when he went off. So, we'll get that assessed.”

Oxford United boss Matt Bloomfield told BBC Radio Oxford:

"It's the best performance in my time here. Both in and out of possession there was lots to like, but I'm not going to get carried away about it, it's just one game.

"We've put two wins back-to-back for the first time in quite a while which we're really pleased about.

"A lot of the players were at a really good level which allowed us to have a team performance and we created multiple opportunities.

"I was actually disappointed at half-time that we left a couple of goals out there, but the second half the way they played the game in front of them, I thought the lads were excellent."