Oxford and the July Challenge

July Challenge

Ok guys, so I'll be starting this now and am aiming to complete at least 10 seasons, hopefully more if possible...

I'm going to play a majorly conservative game, not wasting the wage budget and bringing up youth. I will not move clubs.

TARGETS:
- Win the Champions League
- Be in the BPL by season 10
- Never be relegated

I know quite a lot of you won't be familiar with Oxford, so I'll be starting with a 4-2-3-1 to start with and we are currently in need of a decent LB, GK - yes, I know Clarke's amazing in real life - and a couple of central midfielders... any ideas?

Cheers, will update soon.

So...

Fist game of the season is next and the pre-season friendlies have taken longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, I signed two new CM's in Damien Mozika and Damien Johnson. I've currently got Adda Djezri on trial who is an absolute quality striker at this level, if you can reduce his wages...

So far, though, results are as follows.

Abingdon Town - 4-0
Basingstoke - 4-2
Sea Coast United Mariners - 5-0
Leeds - 3-0 (good result)

For the ease, I will always post Oxford's score first, regardless of H/A.

So next we have Portsmouth and the match has been given TV coverage so we'll be looking to go out and make a stamp!

Will update by the end of the weekend...

Nice result against Leeds, good luck in the first game of the season

Strong result against Portsmouth... easy 3-0 in the end with no real opposition threat.

First goal came from Williams just before half time, Mullins then headed in a corner from the back post to double the lead and Beano (aka Constable) put away the third in the 60's...

Williams - 44
Mullins - 53
Constable - 68

We absolutely destroyed them and probably should have scored more.

Anyone interested in the team/formation/other tactics, feel free to ask and I'll post them.

UPDATE:

After beating Portsmouth we suffered our first game that didn't end in glory in the Capital One Cup. A spirited performance took the game to extra time where David Hunt and James Constable missed crucial penalties against Bristol City meaning the match finished 1-1 (4-2 after pen).

On the flip side, we did this without a couple of star players in Kitson and Djeziri and these look like they'll be great assets when they are fit again.

Still looking for a left back, any ideas anyone??

Cheers.

UPDATE:

So, for the last game of the night we faced Bury. An early goal - 2nd minute in fact - put us in the driving seat and from there we showed grit and determination, holding on to the ball and seeing off any chances. A well earned 3 points, proving we can be scrappy when necessary!

Williams - 2

That's it for tonight.

Cheers.

As I can see you are new to story writing and to the site, welcome
You may want to look at this guide on BBCode Tags and Reusable Icons to improve the look of your story. You could include pictures and much more just to make it a little easier on the eye.
Good luck with your story, seems like you have got off to a good start on the save which is good!

Cheers, will look into it.

Torquay V Oxford

A solid 1-0 victory with a good finish from the ever prolific Ryan Williams, currently on loan from Fulham.

Over the past couple of days, we've let a lot of players out on loan to various clubs as well of a couple of players coming in:

Players In:

- Damien Mozika (Free Agent)
- Damien Johnson (Free Agent)
- Adda Djeziri (Free Agent)
- Tom Lawrence (Loan)

Players Out:

- Sam Long (Loan)
- Callum O'Dowda (Loan)


The two Damiens have proved vital in the middle of midfield and Lawrence/Djeziri are already starting to create chances.

We also pulled Portsmouth in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, this should be a great chance to replicate our 3-0 victory on the first game of the season.

You have time of surplus to fulfill these aims. Good luck at Oxford!

Oxford V Wycombe

Always a fierce local derby, form really is thrown out the window in this game.

What a game.... Beano gave us the lead after he bundled the ball across the line just before Wycombe player Charles Dunne granted us a penalty, which Kitson duly tucked away. After that, though, a wonder-strike for Cowan-Hall gave Wycombe a chance of salvation before in the 90th minute, the same striker tucked away a header to take 2 points off us and end the match as a draw.

Constable - 52
Kitson - 54 (penalty)

Disappointing to concede our first goals in the league and drop our first points, but it was always going to happen. We now need to look to bounce back; I'm currently looking at a couple more possible buys,any ideas are still very much welcome.

We still sit top of the table, one point clear of Fleetwood who are on 9 points.

Rochdale are next up, and I think we can pinpoint that as a must-win game to secure our position.

Oxford V Rochdale

So, we established this as a must win and that's exactly what we did. Beano nicely tucking away his 2 chances and a very solid defence, even though usual LB Newey was out suspended and Wright had to come across from CB.

Before the game, we stepped up the search for a new LB to replace Newey and we also signed Connor Hunte, a young 16 year old with a bag load of potential. He plays on the left and we'll be looking to integrate him into the team as soon as possible!

Hunte:

Current: - Decent League 2
Potential: - Good BPL

So he's definitely one to keep hold, if Mickey Lewis knows what he's talking about, that is.

August Awards

The August awards came out just now, and we did quite well.

Williams took Player of the month, which is great considering he also qualifies for the Young Player's award.

I took Manager of the Month, as I would being top of the table.. and sadly we didn't feature in Goal of the Month.

Results over the past month:

Oxford 3 - 0 Portsmouth
Oxford 1 - 1 Bristol City
Oxford 1 - 0 Bury
Oxford 1 - 0 Torquay
Oxford 2 - 2 Wycombe
Oxford 2 - 0 Rochdale

We now face Portsmouth again, in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy...

Oxford V Porstmouth

So we met again. This time in the JPT but no change in the scoreline: another 3-0. Williams was absolutely on fire scoring 2 himself and setting up Wright with a beautiful corner to the near post.

We're going to really struggle when he's gone (January) and there's no chance we can buy him permanently, Fulham want in excess of £1m. Loaning again won't work either, they want him to play with higher quality players...

Anyway... that match sparked the end of the transfer season, this is how it looked:

Players In:

Damien Johnson - Free Transfer
Damien Mozika - Free Transfer
Adda Djeziri - Free Transfer
Connor Hunte - Free Transfer
Tom Lawrence - Loan (Man U)
Gregor Robertson - Loan (Crewe)

Players Out:

Sam Long - Loan (Concord Rangers)
Callum O'Dowda - Loan (Bath)
David Lynn - Loan (Farnborough)

Next up is Burton!

Burton V Oxford

After being top of the table since day 1, a poor 1-1 draw with Burton would prove costly, moving us down to 2nd place. This wasn't helped by having a couple of players out on international duty, namely Mozika and Williams. This did, though, give Tom Lawrence and Andy Whing a chance to show their stuff, but they were both average.

Burton took the lead early on before Constable scored his 6th goal of the season from a through ball, with large suspicions of offside. We weren't good enough at holding on to the ball and lacked the ability to break the ball up in midfield, this led our defence to being easily picked apart.

Constable - 6

In other news, we've drawn Plymouth away in Round 2 of the JPT but that won't be for a couple of weeks...

Plymouth - JPT