Today I'm going back 12 years to 8th August 2009 and the start of a new National League / Conference season for York City away at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium.
Under manager Martin Foyle, York had finished the previous season at Wembley in the Final of the FA Trophy, losing 2-0 to Stevenage Borough. Hopes were high that, this time around, they'd be more competitive in the League and challenge for promotion back into the Football League after an extremely disappointing 17th place finish the previous season. Fans of Oxford United themselves had considerable expectancy having missed out on the Play-Off places the previous season by four points following a five point deduction for fielding an unregistered player due to administrative oversight. Talk about careless!
The game started well for York and, they took the lead on 33 minutes through the "Angel of the North" and eventual league leading scorer Richard Brodie at the second attempt after initially hitting the post. City looked to be well on their way to an excellent start to the season when still holding the lead with just three minutes of normal time remaining. Then disaster struck. First substitute Matt Green struck an equaliser for Oxford United in the 88th minute and then Mark Creighton scored a sickening late winner from a corner in stoppage time. It felt like a robbery with 6,403 witnesses!
I felt gutted and my disappointment turned into a deep loathing of Oxford United or, more specifically, some of their fans who had been aggressive and threatening from the safety of being behind the stewards in our stand all afternoon. Little did we know it on the opening day but the match would prove to be a microcosm of the entire season. City finished the season in 5th place and in the Play-Off positions as also were (boring nickname alert) "the U's" who finished 3rd behind champions Stevenage Borough. In the Play-Offs, York beat Luton Town whilst Oxford overcame Rushden & Diamonds to set up a winner-takes-all Play-Off Final at Wembley. Book-ended York and Oxford faced other on the first and last games of the season but there was to be no joy for York as Chris Wilder's Oxford won that Play-Off Final too and with it, a coveted place back in the Football League.
CRB Match No. 1703
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