Oxford United bounced back from their dreadful defeat at Bolton with a 2-0 win over strugglers, Port Vale.
Goals from Ciaron Brown and Josh Murphy were enough to secure a vital three points for the U’s.
Here are three talking points from the game
Set Piece Goals
Both of Oxford’s goals came from corners, and both were relatively well-worked.
The first came on 16 minutes when Vale struggled to clear the ball but Brown was on hand to slam the ball into the back of the net.
Murphy’s second was quite impressive. The winger bent the ball in the direction of the back post after the U’s played a short corner to him.
Oxford had more opportunities, thus they didn’t really need to shift gears at Vale Park.
Winger
Murphy and Owen Dale were class from beginning to end once more. The two were the danger men and caused issues all along.
Though some supporters are still unsure about Des Buckingham’s identity, quick and skillful wingers are undoubtedly an important component of his strategy.
Both players created mayhem the entire time by being direct, quick, and frightening. Marcus Browne also made his ten-minute comeback from injury, and he appeared to be in high spirits.
Clean Sheet
Just the second clean sheet in 21 games across all competitions and the first since a goalless draw at Wycombe.
The centre pairing of Brown and Elliott Moore persisted, although there was a change at full-back, with Sam Long replacing Fin Stevens and Joe Bennett replacing Greg Leigh.
Though they were rarely in danger, they performed the essential tasks admirably and deserved the clean sheet.
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