MATCH PREVIEW: OXFORD UNITED

All the stats you need, ahead of Tuesday's visit of Oxford United to Rodney Parade.

Looking at the visitors

The league title is now out of reach for Oxford United after their defeat to Luton Town on Saturday gave Northampton Town the trophy and their attention will now turn to securing automatic promotion to League One. They are currently a point clear of Bristol Rovers and Accrington Stanley with four games to go with Hartlepool, Carlisle and Wycombe to play after County. Kemar Roofe is their top scorer with 17 leagues goal this season, closely followed by Liam Sercombe and Danny Hylton who have 12 each. As a team Oxford score an average of 1.8 goals per game and concede under a goal a game, it will be a tough test for the Exiles, who only need a point to survive in League Two as long as York City lose to Portsmouth.


Form Guide

Newport County – WLWDL L L L L L    7 points

Oxford United – W WDLW WD DWL     18 points


Upcoming Milestones

Medy Elito – 1 goal for 25 professional goals

Andrew Hughes – 2 appearances for 150 professional appearances

Dean Morgan – 3 goals for 75 professional goals

Tom Meechan – 1 goal for 75 professional goals


Oxford United’s record against County

Played 5 Won 2 Drawn 2 Lost 1 Goals For 5 Goals Against 4


Tuesday 24th November 2015: Oxford United 1 – 1 Newport County (John-Lewis 43’)

Saturday 2nd May 2015: Newport County 0 – 1 Oxford United 

Saturday 4th October 2014: Oxford United 1 – 0 Newport County

Tuesday 18th February 2014: Newport County 3 – 2 Oxford United (Howe 45’, Burge 71’, Zebroski 83’)

Tuesday 26th November 2013: Oxford United 0 – 0 Newport County


Last meeting

The points were shared the last time these two sides met in November when Pat Hoban secured a point for the home side after Lenell John-Lewis put Newport ahead just before half time. The draw meant that Oxford missed the chance to go top of the table but crucially it extended Newport’s unbeaten run and gave the Exiles a four point cushion to the bottom two.


Last time out

Newport fell to a sixth defeat in a row as they lost 2-1 to Stevenage on Saturday. The home side had a 2-0 lead before Alex Rodman fired home a shot from inside the penalty area to halve the deficit but County were unable to score again, and Warren Feeney’s side are now 11 points clear of the bottom two with 12 left to play for. 


The Man in charge

Gavin Ward from Surrey is the man in charge for Newport’s final midweek fixture of the season. His assistants are Joe Clark and Ronald Ganfield with fourth official Mark Pottage. Ward has been in charge of one County game this season, the 1-0 win over Mansfield Town at Rodney Parade when Scott Boden scored with four minutes of normal time to go. Last season he also took charge of County’s 2-0 defeat away at Exeter where he sent off Ismail Yakubu in stoppage time. So far in this campaign he has handed out 107 yellow cards in 32 games as well as 2 red cards.


Around the league (all times 7:45pm)

Barnet v Notts County

Cambridge United v Morecambe

Carlisle United v Luton Town

Dagenham and Redbridge v A.F.C Wimbledon

Exeter City v Mansfield Town

Hartlepool United v Accrington Stanley

Leyton Orient v Plymouth Argyle

Northampton Town v Crawley Town 

Stevenage v Bristol Rovers

Wycombe Wanderers v Yeovil Town

York City v Portsmouth