Oxford United manager Gary Rowett felt his team needed their 2-1 victory over the Blues at the Kassam Stadium having dropped into the bottom three earlier in the week, and despite last night’s result believes Town will be in the mix for promotion come the end of the season.

Mark Harris pounced on an Azor Matusiwa error on 24 to give the U’s the lead, before Leif Davis volleyed a 53rd-minute leveller for Town, who at that point looked well set to come from behind to win for the first time since the 3-2 victory over Bristol City at Portman Road in March 2024.

However, the Blues were guilty of committing too many men forward in the 77th minute and Przemyslaw Placheta grabbed a winning goal on the counter-attack for the home side, who as a result moved up to 19th ahead of today’s matches.

“I thought it was a big effort, big performance,” Rowett said. “I thought early on we pushed them pretty well and then they settled into that little rhythm of making it hard for you to get out and put enough pressure on, and they have a lot of the ball and they back you up.

“They’re very good at building one side and switching to the other side constantly, and they did it to good effect, but without necessarily creating lots and lots of big chances. A very talented team, so I was quite pleased with that.

“Of course, we scored the goal and got in at half-time, and I have to say I was really disappointed with the goal we conceded.

“We get blocked too easily. It was a good finish, but it was too easy a goal to concede and at that moment then I felt there was a real decision to make, a real question for the players - do they sit in and just hang onto a point, and it was the same on the sideline, or do we show a little bit of quality and ambition and character and make changes? Not only off the bench, but also change the way that we were playing.

“And I thought we actually stepped up really well. I thought for 10 or 15 minutes we were the better team after that and actually started to show a little bit more energy, and thankfully we got the goal to show for it.”

He added: “To win the game tonight, we needed that a little bit having dropped into the bottom three. I think we needed that win.


“I think everyone got behind it, I thought the crowd got behind it, I thought the players got behind it, I thought there was really good energy in the stadium.”

Rowett and Blues manager Kieran McKenna studied for their UEFA Pro Licence together and the Oxford boss has a lot of time for his Town counterpart.

“He’s a good guy, Kieran. I had a brief chat with him beforehand. I’ve been so impressed with the way that he’s gone about his job,” he said.

“They’ll probably feel that tonight’s result is a little bit of a stinger for them, but that’s always the challenge when you’ve got to go so quickly, the games hinge on fine margins, don’t they? And I think the margin went for us tonight with the goal and I’m really, really pleased.

Rowett fully expects the Blues, who remain without a league win away against Oxford United in their history, to be among the challengers for promotion back to the top flight.

“Absolutely, they’re really well coached, really well organised, they’ve got very good options,” he continued.

“It’s a tough division but I do feel the top end of the division isn’t perhaps quite as outstanding as it has been.

“Of course, Coventry have been the team that have shown that at the moment, so I definitely feel there’s an opportunity for Ipswich to get up there in the mix.”

Photo: TWTD