That’s all from this one, as the Kassam goes berserk.
Now it’s over to Alan Smith for Chelsea v Scunthorpe - will there be an upset there too? Find out. Please. If you want.
What an extraordinary game that was. Oxford didn’t just pull down the pants of a supposedly superior opponent with underhand tactics and skullduggery, but by playing superb football and being much the better side. Maguire and Roofe were both superb, and Oxford fully deserve their place in the fourth round. Lovely stuff.
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Full-time: Oxford 3-2 Swansea
They’ve done it!
90 mins + 3: Timmy Mallet checks his watch in the crowd. Genuinely.
90 mins + 2: Oxford keeping the ball around the Swansea area brilliantly here. Hoban, Hilton, O’Dowda and Maguire all keep it out of harm’s way.
90 mins: Five minutes of added time. Sheesh. Tension, tension, tension.
89 mins: Gomis thinks he’s in on goal, but the linesman’s flag goes up. Replays suggest that was level, though.
Final sub for Oxford, as Roofe goes off to a standing ovation, and is replaced by Patrick Hoban.
88 mins: “This is a sensational game of football, innit? Finally, a glimpse of the fabled magic...” writes Thabo Mokaleng. Quite so, Thabo.
The ball drops to Kingsley just outside the area, and while he does well to create a bit of space for a shot, the effort itself is limp and goes straight at Slocombe.
87 mins: Maguire - him again - chases back and tackles Kingsley as he tries to attack down the left. A brilliant all-round performance from the Rotherham loanee here.
85 mins: Big chance for Swansea now. Barrow uses his pace down the right, he cuts in then squares to Gomis, but his shot is blocked brilliantly by Mullins and it sails over the bar.
84 mins: All Oxford, here. O’Dowda cuts in from the left and shoots towards the top corner, but Nordfeldt does brilliantly to tip it over the bar. It’s not quite so much that Swansea can’t get in the game, more that they aren’t being allowed to.
83 mins: Baldock plays in from the right, for Sercombe in the box, but his shot on the turn never looked likely to threaten, and it loops over the bar.
81 mins: Oxford really aren’t just defending. Sercombe attacks down the right, but Bartley swoops over like an eagle, but an eagle wearing football boots, to mop up and clear.
79 mins: Another sub for Oxford, with Taylor coming off, and Danny Hilton coming on.
Meanwhile, yer man Alan Smith (not the former Arsenal striker, nor the love rat former Leeds forward) is on the MBM for Chelsea v Scunthorpe. Have Chelsea given their array of youngsters a chance? Find out here.*
* No, of course they haven’t.
78 mins: Maguire again threatens, but his low cross from the right is blocked. Oxford aren’t sitting back and defending this lead, which is probably a shrewd option - if they just defended, Swansea would probably manage to pick them apart.
77 mins: Quick detail on Maguire here, who was just doing keepy-uppies in his own corner before clearing...
@NickMiller79 Rotherham gave him permission to play once they crashed out of the cup themselves at the resurgent Leeds United yesterday.
— dan friedman (@danfriedmanme) January 10, 2016
76 mins: Sub for Swansea - Grimes is off, Modou Barrow is on.
75 mins: Big chance for Swansea on the counter. Shelvey plays a nice pass inside Baldock for Montero, who just sorts his feet out in time to shoot, but Slocombe does well to make the save.
“Is it me,” asks Alys, “or does this game epitomise the best and worst of football? I mean, it’s exciting and all, but I have literally watched Barnstaple Town play better than both of these teams.”
Bit harsh on Oxford, that. They’ve played some lovely stuff in spells.
74 mins: Shelvey loops a cross to the back post which drops in no-man’s land, but that’s partly because Montero didn’t move his arse in time to get there. It’s headed back to the keeper.
72 mins: Free-kick in a dangerous spot for Swansea, around 25 yards out to the right of centre. Grimes lines it up, but it flicks off the top of the wall, removing whatever sting was in the shot, and the save for Slocombe is made easy.
71 mins: Change for Oxford - MacDonald off, Callum O’Dowda on.
70 mins: Maguire cuts inside from the left, stumbles but immediately wins the ball back. He’s been excellent - Rotherham, from whom he’s on loan, only gave him permission to play in this game at the last minute.
69 mins: MacDonald tries to get around Kingsley on the right, but the sub offers rather more resistance than his predecessor in that position, the truculent Tabanou, and blocks him off.
67 mins: What. A. Game.
66 mins: Lovely goal to get Swansea back into the game. Gomis gets the ball on the left corner of the box, passes inside the Cork them immediately goes for the return pass, which arrives post-haste, Gomis controls, opens his body and side-foot half-volleys into the far corner.
GOAL! Oxford 3-2 Swansea (Gomis 66)
GAME ON!
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64 mins: Free-kick for Swansea out on the right, which Shelvey crosses over, but it loops past Bartley and Amat can’t direct it anywhere near the goal.
63 mins: “Hi there, how is Kristoffer doing it?” writes Max from Sweden, asking after young Nordfeldt. “Saw him break as a youngster in Brommapojkarna (west of Stockholm), his debut was a complete disaster, but he put that aside and worked on, which earned him a place in the national team. Strange decision to move to Swansea and warming the bench though.”
Well, it’s not going brilliantly so far, Max.
61 mins: The Roofe, the Roofe, the Roofe is on fire.
(SPICY LANGUAGE WARNING - IT’S THE BLOODHOUND GANG)
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60 mins: Change for Swansea, and Tabanou - taken off possibly before he’s sent off - is replaced by Stephen Kingsley.
59 mins: Scenes! From the second corner, Oxford counter at some pace, firstly through Maguire, who squares to Roofe. He shoots, it’s half-saved by Nordfeldt but it loops up in the air and drops gently over the line.
GOAL! Oxford 3-1 Swansea (Roofe 59)
Well, well, well.
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58 mins: Corner for Swansea on the left, which Shelvey skims over, and Cork heads, but it’s tipped over.
56 mins: Roofe breaks into the area from the left and goes down under pressure from Bartley, but there was no foul there. In fact, Roofe was lucky not to be booked for diving, there. The ball returns to midfield and Shelvey goes in the book for a studs up challenge on Maguire, who’s still limping.
55 mins: Lundstrom embarks on an exercise to test the reflexes of his goalkeeper with a header back that dropped between Slocombe and Gomis, but the Oxford stopper got there just in time.
53 mins: Gomis picks the ball up just outside the area, turns and...well, technically that will be classed as a shot, but it dribbled rather apologetically wide.
51 mins: Swansea try to build something and get back into the game, but Tabanou gives the ball away and boots Roofe up in the air in trying to retrieve it. Actually, he had no hope of retrieving anything there, that was just pointless. He’s booked.
49 mins: What a goal that is! A long clearance falls to Taylor, who spreads to the left for Roofe. He cuts inside onto his right foot and he passes the ball into the far corner from the edge of the box. Lovely stuff.
GOAL! Oxford 2-1 Swansea (Roofe 49)
Hello!
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46 mins: And we’re away. And Jordi Amat is in bother straight away for rather pointlessly kicking out at Taylor after conceding a foul, for which he’s booked.
We’re back out for the second half. The sun is shining, the smell of blood remains in the air.
Just a point of interest is that Swansea lobbied the relevant authorities to put their midweek game against Sunderland, scheduled for Tuesday, back a day on the basis they were playing today. And then they made ten changes for this game, which you’d assume they’ll change back for the league game. Hmmmm.
A most entertaining game so far. And now they’re playing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen over the PA. What more could you ask for? Well, ‘Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy’, perhaps.
Half-time: Oxford 1-1 Swansea
Peeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins + 2: Oxford attack again, which fizzles out but they’re very clearly worth being level at the break.
45 mins: Looking at the replay of the penalty decision there didn’t look to be a great deal of contact - MacDonald hurdled an admittedly rash looking challenge and went down, but was he touched? Possibly not. The penalty was straight down the middle, and Nordfeldt nearly got a trailing leg to it as he dived left, like Bodo Illgner vs Stuart Pearce in 1990.
GOAL! Oxford 1-1 Swansea (Sercombe 45)
And he sticks it away.
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PENALTY TO OXFORD!
Bartley takes down MacDonald, and Oxford have a chance to equalise...
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43 mins: More good work from Maguire, who has been Oxford’s most threatening player so far, and he wins a corner on the left.
41 mins: Good bit of scrapping in midfield sets up a chance for Roofe to run at the Swansea defence. He drifts past Tabanou like he wasn’t there, but the chipped cross goes into space, and behind a couple of attackers.
39 mins: Grimes drives towards goal, gets to the edge of the area and goes over the leg of Wright, but the referee deems it a dive and books the Swansea man.
37 mins: Free-kick for Swansea around 25 yards out on the right side of goal, which Shelvey tries to curl around the wall, but it goes just wide, ruffling the side-netting in that manner that fools fans on the other side of the ground into thinking it had gone in. But, of course, it hadn’t.
36 mins: And that’s a hat-trick of Row-Z botherers for Shelvey. Actually, that’s a little unfair - Montero does well down the left, clips a cross over from the byline that is headed clear and Shelvey, on the edge of the box with an awkward angle, does well to keep it down as much as he did. But the volley still went over the bar.
34 mins: “You’ve only got three stands” sing the Swansea fans. Banter is alive and well in South Wales. There are cars parked behind that open end, which Oxford are currently attacking, giving it a vague air of Stamford Bridge in days gone by...
33 mins: Oxford claim a penalty as Sercombe goes down under a Bartley challenge, but no dice there.
32 mins: Woof! Lundstrom gets every bit of a shot from about 25 yards out, it swerves from the outside of his foot but it’s always rising and skims just over the bar. Great effort, though.
31 mins: Oxford seem to be regaining their composure a bit. Maguire picks the ball up on the left corner of the box, creates some space with a few little twists and turns and shoots left-footed, with some power but it was at the near post, and Nordfeldt hangs on.
29 mins: Tabanou does well to win the ball down the left and has some space to attack, but his ball infield is...well, it’s no good and a potentially threatening attack dies.
27 mins: Grimes picks up a knock-down from Gomis, but his attempted through-ball to Emnes is just too far in front of the Dutchman and it trickles out of play.
26 mins: Well that has weed on Oxford’s chips a little. Maguire looks for Sercombe with an attempted defence-splitter but over-hits his ball a little.
23 mins: Smashing goal, that. Montero charges in from the left, plays a one-two with Emnes whose return pass takes out two defenders. The ball gets slightly under Montero’s feet, but he improvises deliciously by backheeling the ball past Slocombe and into the bottom corner of the net.
GOAL! Oxford 0-1 Swansea (Montero 23)
And the Premier League side lead...
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20 mins: Another effort for Oxford, as Sercombe lines up a shot from just inside the area but it’s inadvertently blocked by his own player, Roofe. The ball breaks out to MacDonald on the right who crosses, Nordfeldt sort of half punches, half pushes it out, and Cork has to swoop in and mop things up.
19 mins: Oxford getting into this now. Maguire collects the ball from a throw and finds himself in acres outside the area. He takes a shot which bounces just in front of Nordfeldt, but he gathers safely.
17 mins: Close for Oxford. Maguire pulls out to the left and puts a cross over for Taylor, who tries a looping header that Nordfeldt has to tip over the bar. From the resultant corner, inswinging from the left, Nordfeldt flaps at it rather, but gets away with it as the ball drifts away on the far side.
15 mins: Lundstrom tries to spread the play from the middle out wide to Baldock on the right, but it’s too strong and goes out for a throw. “I like Jonjo but can’t help thinking that he’s reached his peak...” writes Mike MacKenzie, keen to point out he’s in Canada.
14 mins: Roofe tricks and flicks his way down the left but his ball into the middle misses everyone. It finds its way to MacDonald out on the right, but his cross into the middle looking for Taylor goes just over his target’s head.
12 mins: Gomis presses Oxford keeper Slocombe as he tries to kick away, and it works as the kick can only pick out Michael Appleton. As Appleton is the Oxford manager and is thus standing off the pitch, it didn’t quite go as planned for Slocombe.
11 mins: Shelvey again works himself some space around 35 yards out, winds up for the shot but again it sails well over.
10 mins: Swansea win a corner, and while it wasn’t quite in the realm of Iago Aspas or Kevin de Bruyne kicking the flag, Shelvey’s attempt to play short to Emnes is intercepted. Which is relatively unforgivable.
9 mins: First half chance for Oxford - Baldock does good work down the right to get to the byline and clip over a cross, with which he finds Roofe in the middle but his header goes over.
7 mins: Eeesh. Some neat passing by Swansea opens up some space in the Oxford half for Shelvey, who has options right and left, but instead chooses to shoot, which turned out to be an unwise choice as he belted the thing way over the bar.
6 mins: Big chance for Swansea. Emnes beats the offside trap on the right side of the area, keeps the ball in and pulls back to Jefferson Montero in the middle of the goal, near the penalty area, but he was off balance and hoyed the shot way over the bar.
4 mins: That corner is rather loopy and, despite a bit of wind swirling, Bartley heads away.
3 mins: Scrappy start thus far. Oxford attack down the right and Jordi Amat has to come across and concede a corner.
1 min: And we’re away, Oxford kicking off and getting straight on the attack. Marvin Emnes gives away a free-kick, which is taken quickly but the shot is blocked and Swansea counter, but Lundstram snuffs out that attack.
Kick-off is slightly delayed as a large number of balloons that have invaded the pitch are burst. Banning orders all round, you’d assume.
The Kassam Stadium is of course one of those weird places with one open end. Will that throw these pampered Premier League big boys? Well, no, probably not.
Team news
Oxford United
Slocombe, Baldock, Mullins, Wright, Skarz, Roofe, Sercombe, Lundstram, MacDonald, Taylor, Maguire. Subs: Hoban, Hylton, Buchel, Ruffels, O’Dowda, Dunkley, Evans.
Swansea City
Nordfeldt, Shephard, Amat, Bartley, Tabanou, Cork, Grimes, Emnes, Shelvey, Montero, Gomis. Subs: Eder, Tremmel, Kingsley, Barrow, James, Fulton, Rodon.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
Preamble
Sometimes you can just smell an upset, can’t you? Swansea are struggling in the Premier League (they even lost to Manchester United last week, for heaven’s sake) have a new (interim) manager who probably has bigger things to concern himself with than this caper, and they’ll be playing a rather under-strength team. Pop that on top of Oxford, their League Two opponents, being in rather splendid nick themselves, third in the table and having lost just once in their last 15 games in all competitions, and suddenly the scent of something spicy is in the air.
Of course, that all could be nonsense and this might be a routine 3-0 victory for a theoretically perfectly competent Premier League side, but we can dream. Or at least idly wonder. Basically, we’ve had so few actual upsets so far in the third round of the FA Cup - unless you count Jurgen Klopp’s creche drawing with Exeter as a staggering shock - that we could do with one here. It’s going to happen. Definitely.
Well, maybe. One way to find out, eh? Team news for you shortly.
Kick-off: 12.00pm GMT
Nick will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Paul Doyle’s interview with Oxford United’s John Lundstram:
In the summer of 2013 John Lundstram started England’s opening match at the Under-20 World Cup alongside Ross Barkley, Harry Kane and Eric Dier, with John Stones on the bench. Last Sunday, while the other four players contested the Premier League match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, Lundstram was pursuing his football education at Oxford United, having turned down a new contract at Everton in the summer. “It was the best decision I ever made,” says the 21-year-old midfielder who aims to show on Sunday, when Oxford host Swansea City in the third round of the FA Cup, that he has what it takes to graduate back to the elite.
Lundstram was nominated for the League Two player-of-the-month award for December and feels that his career is finally taking flight. It is doing so partially because he has learned to exert more control over the direction he takes.
In 2013 he went to the World Cup on the back of impressive performances as a loanee at Doncaster Rovers, whom he helped to the League One title, and with high hopes of breaking into the Everton first team. But that was also the summer in which Roberto Martínez arrived at Goodison Park to replace David Moyes, under whom Lundstram had seemed poised to make a breakthrough.
“When David Moyes was at Everton I was in the squad and with the first team and doing really well but as soon as he left it just wasn’t the same for me,” says Lundstram without bitterness. “It’s a game of opinions and I wasn’t involved in the first team as much as I’d have liked under Martínez. I was meant to go on a pre-season tour with the first team when I came back from Doncaster and then, a couple of days before that, I got taken off the squad list to go and I was never told why. That knocked my confidence a bit and little things like that set me back a bit. Then I had to go on loan to Yeovil.”
Full story here:
