Matt Bloomfield dedicates Oxford United win to Amelia Aplin

The U’s beat Rovers 1-0 at the Kassam on Wednesday night thanks to Jamie Donley’s first-half strike and maiden goal for the club.

Yellows boss Bloomfield honoured Amelia, who tragically passed away last weekend at the age of 15, after the victory.

“It’s very bittersweet,” the 42-year-old said.

“What we wanted to do tonight, above anything else, is make sure we pay tribute to Amelia and her family in the correct manner, with the dignity and respect that she deserved, and they deserved.

“For her teammates and her parents to join us on the pitch for the minute’s silence and our supporters observed it immaculately, both sets of supporters, so thank you to them for that.

“Tonight was about dedicating the evening to Amelia.

Tributes left for Amelia Aplin outside the Kassam Stadium (Image: Submit)

“She’ll live forever in our hearts.

“I hope her family will be friends of the football club forever.

“We had to make sure we paid the best respects we possibly could to such a devastating loss for her family.

“The last few days have been tough because football pales in significance in a moment like this because human life is far more important and family losing a daughter and teammates losing a friend is far more important.

Oxford United manager Matt Bloomfield (Image: Gary Oakley/PA Wire)

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“We wanted to perform with respect and perform properly to show the best light of ourselves on such an important evening for us.

“I don’t want to understate how important the game was for us, but in those circumstances it’s a distant second. But we’ve got a really important season that we want to go and execute.

READ MORE: Oxford United boss and captain pay tribute to Amelia Aplin

“I didn’t want to let Amelia and her family down with a poor performance and not do her justice, so it was really important that we tried to put the two together which I think we did.”

Jamie Donley celebrates scoring his first Oxford United goal against Blackburn Rovers (Image: Oxford United)

Oxford’s admirable performance at the Kassam sees them climb to 22nd in the Championship table, level on points with Leicester City above them and only in the relegation zone on goal difference.

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With three consecutive wins under their belt for the first time in over a year, Bloomfield’s team are all of a sudden in with a real chance of staying up this season and carry unique momentum going into the final nine games.

“The table will be as it is at the end of the season, we have to just keep going after our work, concentrating on the performances,” Bloomfield added.

“We have to…play the games that are in front of us, not the perception of the situation of the table or anything else.”