Oxford United Chairman Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth wrote the following notes for the Rotherham United programme
What a fantastic win on Tuesday night. I tell you, sometimes you get a result which is crucial at the end of the season. Could it be that one?
I do not mean just because of the three points, even though they kept us close to the teams at the top and with games in hand over most of them. I mean because we had just about everything go against us in the build up. It would have been hard enough without Jack Stevens, Sam Winnall, Alex Gorrin, Ryan Williams and the other injured players, so to win with a further seven players unavailable because of Covid was unbelievable.
The 48 hours after the game at Wigan being called off were hard work for all of us. The medical team were incredible, and I want to thank James Baldock and Andy Caton, who both stepped in when others were ruled out. I want to thank Dan Harris and the Academy as well; their staff came forward and filled in around the first team and they all work long hours every week but volunteered without hesitation. You maybe saw Darren Purse warming up the goalkeepers, which was typical of the attitude of everyone at the club.
Clearly most of you were looking towards Karl for clear leadership, which he always delivers, and then you were all waiting for the recruitment team to find a goalkeeper! Again, everyone worked through the night to make that happen. Mark Thomas and Ed Waldron were never off the phone and gave us an excellent list of goalkeepers who we could bring in.
That was not straightforward, but we have a reputation for helping players develop and for looking after loan players and because of that we were able to bring in Connal Trueman. I think he would have probably liked more to do on his debut, but what he needed to do he did very well and that helps spread confidence all through the team. We have some excellent young goalkeepers here and they will all get chances at some stage I am sure, but Connal has that bit more experience and has played a number of games in this division, so he was a good fit for us on Tuesday.
So much could have gone wrong on Tuesday, but I have said before that if you have good people in the right places, a clear structure, and everyone willing to support their colleagues then you can deal with most things. The players have a special bond, so do the staff, and now I hope we can show that again today.
It will be a tougher test against the leaders, but if you can lend your voices and support and we show the same spirit again, then I hope we can end an unforgettable week with an unforgettable win. I hope to be there as soon as possible.
Tiger
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc