VENUE #51 OXFORD UNITED The Kassam Stadium

 SKY BET LEAGUE TWO

Oxford United... 3
Dagenham & Redbridge... 3

Saturday 30th August 2014

@ The Kassam Stadium
            Oxford


     After the events that took place on my last journey by train my Wife asked if she could join me on this venture to Oxford.  My confidence had taken a battering and I was not really up to facing another long period alone on a train and so was glad of her company.  It was a great excuse for her to go shopping and spend lots of cash in an unfamiliar environment, she is also a big fan of the TV programme Lewis and so it gave her a great opportunity to explore some of the places where the series was filmed while I do, what I do at my new venue.
     My game today from the Sky Bet league two takes me to the Kassam Stadium which is five miles from Oxford railway station and so I decided to take a taxi there and back which was a big mistake as it nearly cost me as much as the whole train journey..

Back of the Oxford Mail stand

     Oxford who are currently bottom of league two without a point in their first four matches take on a Dagenham & Redbridge side who are mid-table with six points.  Michael Appleton the U's head coach made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 after extra time only to lose 7-6 on penalties in the capital one cup at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night, Max Crocombe, Danny Rose and Junior Brown make way for George Long, Alex Jakubiak and Alfie Potter.  Wayne Burnett names an unchanged side to the one that beat Mansfield 2-0 at the London borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium last Saturday.
     The game got off to a lively start with Oxford taking the lead after only three minutes with Alex Jakubiak sliding in to meet Joe Riley's right wing cross .
     After seven minutes it was 1-1 when Jamie Cureton's squared pass found Ashley Hemmings who side footed the ball past Long in the Oxford goal.
     That's how it stayed till half time but it was only the first minute after the break when Dagenham took the lead, Jamie Cureton firing home a Luke Howells pass from 14 yards.
     But this topsy- turvy affair hadn't finished yet for in the 55th minute Tom Newey's cross to the far side of the goal was met by the head of Danny Hylton who steered the ball back across O'Brien in goal for Dagenham and into the net, 2-2.
     Six minutes later and the lead returned to Oxford, Scott Doe brought down Jakubiak in the box and up stepped the home side's man of the match Hylton to strike the spot kick home for his second and the U's third of the afternoon.

View from the car park of the three stands

     You just knew that Dagenham weren't finished yet as for them to go away with nothing out of this game would have been a might unfair and it only took ten minutes for them to level the game once more, after some intense pressure from the Daggers the ball dropped kindly for Abu Ogogo just outside the Oxford 18 yard area and he fired a half volley over the top of George Long, (who was a "long" way off his line), and under the bar to give his team a well earned point.
     The Kassam Stadium is a 12,500 all seated Stadium that was built in 2001 to re-house United after they had to leave their previous home, the Manor ground, which had been their home tie venue for 76 years.
 

Picture from where I was sitting of the open car park end

 It's a wired looking place with three wonderfully sized stands on three sides of the pitch and a wooden fence behind the goal on the West side of the ground that leads directly onto the car park.  There is talk of completing the structure with a fourth stand but needs Oxford to be doing better than the league two status that they currently hold..
     I sat in the South stand to watch the game, it is a two tiered stand fully covered with a row of executive boxes and is rather impressive to look at, although seeing that it's only 13 years old you would have to say that it looks a lot older for it hasn't warn very well, the toilets are an absolute disgrace.

The North stand

     The North stand is single tiered and also fully covered and is where the away supporters watch the games from.  The Dagenham fans were down in the far corner of the stand right by the open car park end, mind, there were only 158 of them.
     At the other end to the car park is the Oxford Mail stand which is single tiered, fully covered and where the noisy, chanting home supporters congregate, they seem to have a competition between themselves to see who can out-sing the other, the right side or the left.
     I hope that after my last experience on the train to Milton Keynes that this sort of day is the norm, both me and my Wife had a lovely time and I'm looking forward to the next venue with renewed passion.

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