Embracing the chaos may be Oxford United’s best chance of securing promotion

Sam Long’s 93rd-minute winner against Gillingham on Saturday moved Oxford United into the League One play-off places as the season reaches its final stages, but concentrating solely on that headline would be to ignore what was a wild afternoon in a madcap season.

A flat performance meant Oxford had been 2-0 down to the Gills with less than twenty minutes left to play at the Kassam Stadium, and seemingly on the verge of throwing away any hopes of redeeming last season’s defeat in the Play-Off final at Wembley.

The Gillingham game followed what had been a fairly unbelievable week that had seen Karl Robinson’s side beat Crewe 6-0 away from home before defeating Shrewsbury 4-1 at the Kassam, with ten different goalscorers across the two fixtures.

Those results in themselves had been unexpected as they followed a run of just one win in five that had left Oxford stuck in mid-table, contributing to a wider failure to capitalise on a club record nine-game winning run over the festive period that had launched them from the relegation zone to the top half.

But Sam Winnall’s goal from the bench before a late brace from home-grown defender Long to complete Saturday’s turnaround has made all of the inconsistency and missed opportunities that have come before seem something of an irrelevance – with four games left to play, Oxford are in the top six.

“We have four games left and we are the same group of people that started the season.

“We have found a little bit of form to go with our togetherness. We have found ways to win games and when we play well there are not many teams that can beat us. But now if we don’t play well and get stopped like on Saturday then we answered a question: can we find a different way to win?

“We did it on Saturday and we now have a calmness and a patience and I think we have evolved to be able to play in slightly different ways when we need to.

“It’s set up a nice end to the season and it keeps everything interesting for us and for the fans.”

– Oxford United head coach Karl Robinson speaking to the club’s website

The caveat that Portsmouth, who are below them in seventh on goal difference alone, have a game in hand on them, and Charlton, who are in eighth and two points behind the Yellows, have two extra fixtures to fulfil, can wait until the final table is calculated in less than three weeks time, for now Robinson’s side need to focus on winning their games and seeing where it takes them.

A further positive for Oxford is that Brandon Barker and Mark Sykes are likely to be available for selection after both sat out the Gillingham game through injury.

They travel to South London on Tuesday night to take on an AFC Wimbledon side that have found a wining formula of their own in recent weeks after a campaign spent battling to survive in the third tier.

The Dons have put together a run of three consecutive wins for the first time this season, helping them climb out of the relegation zone and establishing a five-point gap between themselves and the bottom four.

Mark Robinson, who has been involved with the club since 2004, was appointed permanent head coach in February after a spell as interim boss, and although results were initially hard to come by, he has steadily improved the team whilst also incorporating a number of players from the club’s academy.

Youth team graduates Will Nightingale, Jack Rudoni and Ayoub Assal all started Saturday’s 4-1 win over relegation rivals Swidon, and it is creative midfielder Assal who has caught the eye most consistently in Wimbledon’s winning run.

Robinson gave the him his league debut at the beginning of February against Shrewsbury, and even though Assal made a scoring start to his EFL career on that day, it was his brace in a 5-1 win at Accrington just over a week ago, and a goal and assist in the victory against Swindon, that has helped him to stand out.

Wimbledon still have five games left to play, and now that they have created a sizeable gap between themselves and the sides in the drop zone, two more wins would realistically be enough for them to secure their League One status for another year.

“Obviously, we are happy and you have to celebrate and enjoy your football, but the standards have been set and we are having those discussions.

“We have to prepare for the next game and take more points and that has to continue right until the end of the season.”

– AFC Wimbledon head coach Mark Robinson speaking to the club’s website

They will be without defender Terrell Thomas and forward Shayon Harrison against Oxford due to long-term injuries, but if the Dons produce another display similar to the type they’ve been producing in recent games, it would be no surprise to see them keep their positive run of form going.

The final weeks of the EFL season often turn into something of a free-for-all whereby a strong sequence of results can easily lead to final day glory and an equally poor one can create a summers worth of heartache.

With both outcomes firmly on the line at Plough Lane on Tuesday night, both Oxford and Wimbledon have little choice but to embrace the chaos.

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