It means this weekend will be no less anxious for sides involved at either end of the table.<\/p>\n
Still, while the pressures of the climax to the Championship season are clear and present, there was still time at the Kassam for a nod to past glories.<\/p>\n
Some 40 years on from what is considered to be Oxford’s greatest day, members of the 1986 Milk Cup winning squad \u2013 including Ray Houghton and Wembley goalscorer Jeremy Charles – were presented to the Kassam Stadium crowd.<\/p>\n
Those days of top division will have felt that little bit further away by the time the final whistle and defeat spelt out the improbable nature of their chances of avoiding a return to the third tier.<\/p>\n
Some home fans left before the inevitable having seen their side show plenty of effort, but not much attacking threat, and therefore little hope of a dramatic escape.<\/p>\n
Because Wrexham underlined football’s ruthless nature, on the eve of a significant anniversary of their own.<\/p>\n
Just shy of three years from the night they won promotion from non-league, Phil Parkinson’s side only needed one chance to show why their upward momentum has been full of opportunities seized.<\/p>\n
It was no different here. As Oxford tried to match their visitors in formation and determination, Wrexham had to enjoy plenty of possession without finding much penetration.<\/p>\n
But, with a blend of strength and sill that perhaps embodies the mentality of Parkinson’s men, Smith teed up Windass when the influential Matty James sprayed a long pass forward and the striker held off his marker.<\/p>\n
Windass obliged with a first shot on target, and the final say on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n
Kieffer Moore and Hyam could have made the night more comfortable, the former going over the bar after a counter had put him clear.<\/p>\n
So there was still the need to throw bodies at the ball, and to stand tall in a sometimes physical contest.<\/p>\n
But when Oxford’s Ciaran Brown was left unsuccssfully claiming a penalty when he stood shirtless in the box after a tussle with Hyam, it suggested Wrexham are not done fighting this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It means this weekend will be no less anxious for sides involved at either end of the table.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-410699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}