Oxford united FC
Oxford United thrash Wednesday after relegation confirmed
The win came after the earlier Championship results confirmed Oxford’s relegation to League One, Charlton Athletic’s win over Hull City and West Bromwich Albion’s draw with Ipswich Town condemning The U’s to third-tier football next season.
Tottenham Hotspur loanee Will Lankshear bagged a wonderful first-half brace to lift spirits inside the Kassam before Will Vaulks and Myles Peart-Harris sealed the win in the final home game of the season.
Oxford began positively and it took only five minutes for Lankshear to find the opener.
Stan Mills’ low ball into the box found the striker who improvised neatly to flick the ball past Pierce Charles and into the net.
The hosts continued the pressure and almost found a second when Michal Helik and Brodie Spencer were both denied with blocks from close range.
Lankshear saw another effort blocked as he arrived late into the box before finding his second goal.
Receiving the ball from Peart-Harris, the 21-year-old took a neat touch inside and another to set himself before curling a peach of a shot into the top-right corner from range.
Wednesday started to find a bit of threat after Lankshear’s brace, forcing a save out of Jamie Cumming through Tayo Adaramola before former Manchester United man Charlie McNeill struck the post.
The second period began lively with chances for both sides, The Owls thinking they had scored not long into play as Cumming’s punch somehow looped into the air and across the line, but the referee halted the away celebrations by giving a foul against Wednesday on The U’s goalkeeper.
Oxford found their third in the 67th minute when Vaulks volleyed impressively past Charles with his left foot after one touch to set himself in the box, the midfielder’s first goal of the season.
Wednesday thought they had got back into the game five minutes later when substitute Will Grainger struck into the top right corner after the ball was played back to him in the box, but The U’s had other ideas.
Hitting back in only a minute, Peart-Harris added a fourth, receiving a low ball across from Lankshear and sliding it past the goalkeeper.
The Owls saw a couple of efforts blocked late on, but Oxford were able to calmly see out the victory.
Oxford: Cumming, ter Avest (Long 63), Helik, Brown, Spencer, Brannagan (Peart-Harris 19), Vaulks, Mills (Romeny 77), Donley (Konak 63), Emakhu (Harris 77), Lankshear
Wednesday: Charles, Palmer, Iorfa, Lowe, Fusire (Maltby 46), Heskey, Chalobah (Thornton 77), Adaramola, Lowe (Moses 90+1), Yates (Kobacki 77), McNeill (Grainger 66)
Bookings: Spencer
The U’s are looking to strengthen after their relegation from the Championship last season, with a new striker wanted by supporters after the return of fan favourite Will Lankshear to his parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Chaplin spent last season on loan at boyhood club Portsmouth as the club survived in the second tier, the 29-year-old scoring twice and managing one assist in 40 appearances.
Meanwhile, his parent club Ipswich secured promotion to the Premier League by finishing second in the league only behind runaway champions Coventry City.
The Englishman was key in the Tractor Boys’ League One promotion-winning season where they finished second, Chaplin scoring 26 goals that year to win the division’s Golden Boot award, joint with Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris.
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He was also awarded Ipswich’s Player of the Season award and included in the League One Team of the Season.
Chaplin then struck 13 goals in the Championship as the Suffolk side were promoted again, before suffering relegation from the Premier League the year after.
The attacking midfielder was released by Ipswich last month following their return to the top flight and SportsBoom are reporting that Oxford have ‘expressed an interest’ in signing the free agent.
With experience in the top tiers of English football and proof of goal scoring prowess in League One, Chaplin would be a sensible addition to the U’s ranks.
Tottenham Hotspur want £20 million for 21-year-old Will Lankshear and have turned down multiple bids for him, according to Hayters.
The ex-U’s striker, who was the club’s top scorer last term with 12 goals in all competitions, is highly rated by his parent side who narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last season finishing two points above the drop zone.
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However, they haven’t ruled out selling him if the right offer comes in with Portuguese side Sporting CP reportedly interested.
In addition Spurs is also considering another loan move for Lankshear to a Championship club, although the London team is looking to fund a summer spending spree that has already seen a £52 million bid for defender Jan Paul Van Hecke accepted by Brighton.
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Lankshear has made three Premier League appearances for Spurs as well as scoring one goal in three Europa League features.
In a breakout season in men’s football, the England youth international became a fan favourite in OX4 for his tenacity and goal scoring success in a struggling Championship team.
The 21-year-old’s attitude off the pitch also endeared the fans to his name, with the player crediting the club as the place where it all began ahead of a hopefully successful career.
The U’s will play host to the Tractor Boys on Saturday, August 1, with kick-off scheduled for 12:00PM.
The fixture is the fourth pre-season friendly confirmed by the club and the first from a division higher than League One, where Oxford will compete next term.
United will face National League side Aldershot Town (Tuesday, July 21) and League Two club Barnet (Saturday, July 25) away from home before the welcoming of another fourth-tier outfit Crawley Town (Tuesday, July 28).
The U’s have also confirmed that tickets for the trip to Aldershot are now on sale.
Oxford played Ipswich twice in the Championship last season as Matt Bloomfield’s side suffered relegation whilst the Suffolk club were promoted to the Premier League, finishing second.
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Under former head coach Gary Rowett, the Yellows pulled off a shock 2-1 victory against Kieran McKenna’s men in OX4 in late November, Mark Harris and Przemyslaw Placheta scoring the goals.
They were defeated 2-1, however, in the second fixture, Will Lankshear scoring the only goal for the U’s at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys are currently on the hunt for a new manager after McKenna stepped down last week in order to take a break from football management.
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