This
year, as with last year, Oxford have been denied a lucrative home
fixture on Boxing Day. But ten years ago, in our first season at
Minchery Farm, the then-new stadium was to play host to a fiery
encounter between Oxford and Luton in front of what was then a record
crowd of 11,121.
To
examine the wider context of the match requires us to look back to
the previous season, our last at the Manor. With the club rooted to
the bottom of the table with just five points from the first 16 games
under the calamitous leadership of David Kemp, Kassam turned to his
'friend' Joe Kinnear for help. Coming in as Director of Football,
Kinnear immediately set about recruiting a host of new faces to the
Manor, bringing in Phil Gray, Keith Andrews, Keith Brown, Andy Scott
and Rob Quinn. However, after just 101 days in the job Kinnear
resigned due to 'family and health reasons' before making a
remarkable recovery to take up the job at fellow-strugglers Luton
Town just days later – angering
the Oxford faithful in the process.
The
two sides were to meet just months later, as United – by now as
good as relegated – travelled to Kenilworth Road, earning just
their second away draw of the season to drag Luton and Kinnear one
step closer to joining us in the fourth tier. It was a bad day for
Kinnear, who was subjected to constant abuse from the travelling
Oxford fans, our late equaliser being scored by Andy Scott, who had
been brought to the Manor by Kinnear himself!
The
following season Oxford again earned a 1-1 draw away at Kenilworth
Road, with Andy Scott finding the net once more. However, despite its
similarities to the previous season's encounter, much had changed
over the summer. Kassam had appointed the next in his succession of
appalling managers in Mark Wright, and Oxford struggled in that first
season in the fourth tier. Luton, meanwhile, had given Kinnear an
enormous pot of cash to play with in a bid to win promotion back to
Division Two at the first attempt – a strategy that would later
prove to be even more disastrous than Kassam's.
So
as Luton made their first trip to the Kassam on Boxing Day 2001, they
did so firmly entrenched in the automatic promotion race, with Oxford
struggling near the bottom, Mark Wright having already departed. It
was Kinnear's first return to Oxford since his defection, and his
numerous provocative outbursts (for example, calling Kassam a 'prat'
and labelling the Oxford fans 'Muppets'
ahead of the previous meeting between the two clubs) during that time
had only served to fan the flames.
We
understandably started the match on the front foot, though were
unable to create any chances, but the Hatters soon began to assert
themselves on the match and heaped pressure on the United defence.
However it was Oxford who took the lead against the run of play, Andy
Scott latching onto a Paul Powell pass and slotting it past the Luton
goalkeeper. Parity was rightly restored late in the first half as
Luton were allowed to pass the ball around the Oxford area with no
intervention from the defence, enabling Dean Crowe to scuff a shot
which trickled past Ian McCaldon in goal. The reverse was complete
just seconds into the second half, with Matthew Taylor scoring in
similar fashion to the first. Oxford never threatened to equalise and
the bumper Boxing Day home crowd went home disappointed, allowing
Kinnear to crow
after the match.
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