Oxford won their second home Championship game of the season this afternoon, beating 10-men Preston North End 3-1 thanks to goals from top-scorer Mark Harris in the first half after Emil Riis had given the visitors an early lead. Tyler Goodrham and substitute Greg Leigh completed the scoring in the second half, with Preston's Liam Lindsay shown red just before Leigh's goal.
United made two changes to the side that played at Blackburn Rovers one week ago, with Josh McEachran replacing Will Vaulks as the shield in front of the defence, and Cameron Brannagan returning after illness in place of Idris El Mizouni.
The visitors started strongly and took the lead in just the third minute when Riis stabbed home from close range after United gave the ball away in defence. It was not the start United wanted and it would prove to be a test of character for the U's, one that they passed admirably.
It was almost 2-0 in the 16th minute, with Riis again being the protagonist. His shot took a massive deflection that had Jamie Cumming arching backward to tip the ball over the bar. But three minutes later and the Yellows were level through that man Harris, with his fourth goal in four games.
The goal owed much to Peter Kioso, who overlapped Matt Phillips and retained possession well. The ball came back to McEachran who chipped the ball beyond the defence, with Harris running into the space behind and flicking the ball over Freddie Woodman, son of former U's custodian Andy.
On the half hour United suffered a blow when Phillips hobbled off, the fans using the opportunity to give a round of applause to Amy Cranston, the club's Head of Medical Services attending her final game after 12 years with her local club. It gave new signing Siriki Dembélé an early chance to show what he could do.
Quite a bit, as it happened, with him central to a move that carved open the Preston defence five minutes before the break. From the corner, Sam Long's back-heel had Woodman scrambling to put the ball out for a second corner and from McEachran's delivery, Kioso's powerful header arrowed just wide.
If Harris's goal last Saturday was an early goal-of-the-season contender, then Goodrham's strike in the 54th minute will probably be runner up. He picked up the ball from Long midway in Preston's half and beat his marker for pace before cutting inside and curling a wonderful shot from the edge of the area beyond Woodman and in off the post.
The game turned further in United's favour just before the hour, when former Oxford target Lindsay slipped to allow Harris a run on goal. The central defender brought down the U's forward to earn his second yellow card of the afternoon and leave Preston with a mountain to climb.
From the resulting free kick, Dembélé picked up the loose ball, played it back for Long whose deep cross was headed back across goal by Ciaron Brown and Leigh joyfully applied the finishing touch for Oxford's third goal and to take the game away from Preston.
This was just the result that United needed following back-to-back defeats on the road and going into the international break. There's now a two-week gap for the team to take stock, work hard to refine things on the training ground and go into the next game at home to Stoke City in a fortnight.
United: Cumming, Long, Brown, McEachran (El Mizouni 76), Brannagan, Harris, Phillips (Dembélé 34), Bennett (Leigh 45+1), Goodrham, Rodrigues (Vaulks 76), Kioso
Unused subs: Ingram, Ebiowei, Sibley, Dale, Scarlett
Attendance: 11,403 (including 1,467 away fans)
Fifty/50 draw: Ticket number 145393 wins £1,209.50
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photos: JasonPix, Steve Daniels, Steve Edmunds, Darrell Fisher
