Wednesday 9th August 2023 ko 19:45

EFL Cup 1st Round

BRISTOL CITY 5 (Cornick 15 Knight 35 47 Naismith 62)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Bodin 30)

Att 9,616 (1,201 away)

Entry (Atyeo Stand) £10

Programme -officially none, but the fans are producing an unofficial programme “Cider Reds” for £4 available from underneath the Atyeo statue. It’s rather good!

Robyn and I have been together 7 and a half years, and married for 3 and a half, so the only real surprise is that it took this long for our two sides to meet. I’ve been an Oxford United season ticket holder since the mid-80’s and Robyn was a season ticket holder at Bristol City when we met. And let’s face it, her name is Robyn!

There are a couple of caveats, the women’s teams have met twice in that time, in 2016 and again last season. The male teams did also meet in a behind closed doors friendly a few weeks ago- I imagine both clubs played that game with more than half an eye on this game!

It would be easy to paint this encounter as simply Robyn versus Laurence, with us at opposite ends of Ashton Gate, but the only bit that was completely accurate was that yes Robyn was sat with our nephew Che in the South Stand, and I was in the Ayteo Stand. Apart from that it was a little more nuanced.

For start Robyn has spent the last 7 years living in Oxford, so she’s seen more of United than City, and so there is a connection there. Make no mistake, she’s a Bristol City fan first and foremost, but neither of us were going to be watching the game without there being able to think about the other’s team. We’ve got so used to our teams not playing each other we never managed to establish a rivalry!

We did something I hadn’t done this century and that was to use the supporters’ coaches. As much as I despise the Kassam Stadium it does have one advantage over the Manor Ground, I could leave my car there!

I did feel that in a sporting sense the game would have been more interesting if it’d had been at Oxford United. With Oxford being in League 1, and Bristol City the Championship I did feel that the home advantage might have made the tie a little more competitive. That said I don’t think it would have altered the result and the tickets certainly wouldn’t have cost £10! It would allowed at least two of the former Oxford United players to have made the move west to return to the club that did much to launch their careers.

But stood outside Ashton Gate consuming a hideously overpriced pork roll I realised just how much I see Bristol City as a blueprint for so much I’d like Oxford United to aspire to, particularly the stadium. If you’re reading this from a Bristol City perspective, you may not know that Oxford United have to leave the Kassam Stadium in 3 years’ time. There are plans to move to just south of Kidlington but the same type of NIMBY politics that saw the Ashton Vale project abandoned are very much in play in Oxford too.

I’m fortunate to have watched games from all 4 sides of Ashton Gate, and I’ll say 3 sides are everything I’d want for Oxford United, and the Atyeo is a pleasant throwback to away days past.

It did seem odd to be at the same game as my wife but not actually watching it with her. As it was Oxford United were competitive for roughly half an hour, and I sure former Bristol Rovers forward Billy Bodin enjoyed scoring against his former team’s greatest rivals. But once City worked out that there were real frailties on their visitors’ flanks they exploited those weaknesses ruthlessly.

City began to run riot and very quietly Robyn sent me a text, “Baby I’m Sorry.” I forced an inward smile, obviously it wasn’t her fault, but it did demonstrate the fact that any result had consequences for each of us, and us as a couple. With the benefit of hindsight there was a silver lining for Oxford United and our fans. An injury to Jordan Thorniley saw young Irish defender Stephan Negru introduced late on and he’s hardly put a foot wrong since.

But there’s no sugar coating the fact that my side took a real walloping and it was a very quiet coach on the way home. But if it means Oxford United play Bristol City as equals next season in the Championship, I’ll take it. We’ll work out the details of the marriage guidance as we go!