Derby delight as U's stun Royals
Oxford leapt above rivals Reading in the league table today with a 1-2 win over the Royals at the Madejski Stadium.
The visitors drew first blood in the early stages of today's game with a goal from Paul Folland, his first for the club.
The goal came from a good attacking move by the Royals, a ball dinked over found Martin Williams but he delayed his shot and fired wide of Lundin's left post.
From the restart Beauchamp received the ball in midfield and splayed it wide to Folland, the youngster cut around two players on the right side of the area and after beating Andy Bernal, hammered a shot across the face of goal and keeper Phil Whitehead into the far corner to give the U's a shock lead.
The game lulled slightly following the goal and although Reading had the better of the passing movement, they were unable to test Lundin in the Oxford net.
The best chance for the home side came when Gurney was put clean through 1 on 1 with the keeper but he was unable to control the pass and a good opportunity went begging.
A few vicious local derby challenges soon brought things back to life at the Madejski Stadium though and both sides had chances in front of goal.
Oxford appealed for a penalty when Watson was hauled down by Primus in the area following a corner but the referee waved play on.
At the other end Caskey slid a beautiful pass down the middle that split the visitor's defence and when Williams nipped on the end of it, he fired the ball inches wide.
On the stroke of half time Murphy should have done better than to fire his shot over the bar from a corner, but the two sides went into half time with the score still at 0-1.
Reading began to step up the tempo in the second half and produced the better of the attacking play, although Lundin looked strong in goal and often thwarted any attacking opportunities.
Reading were inches away from an equaliser ten minutes into the second period when the ball fell perfectly to Scott to arch his back and knock an overhead effort in but Lundin produced the save of the game with a left handed outstretched save to tip the ball clear.
Still the challenges rained in with Hunter scything down Beauchamp but Oxford continued to struggle to get out of their own half as Reading piled the pressure on.
Second half sub Forster worked himself into a good position but hesitated at the final moment and Lundin once again saved the day with a lunge at the player's feet to take the ball.
In the end though the pressure had to take it's toll and on 77 minutes the Royals grabbed the equaliser they had been looking for.
A scrappy ball into the area bobbled about and fell for McIntyre, he managed to poke the ball goalwards off of a defender's foot and with Lundin too far out, the ball just drifted across the line to make it 1-1.
A minute after the goal a lapse in concentration could have seen Oxford's second when Abbey looked to be odds on to score but Gurney produced a wonderful tackle to deny the U's.
Either way, the visitors were soon to snatch the lead again as Reading were caught flat in the final minutes.
Beauchamp strode down the left and cut back inside before spraying the ball across the area to Murphy who fired a 16 yard bullit past Whitehead to the anguish of the Madejski faithful.
In injury time a shot deflected off of Watson almost drifted into the Oxford net but it wasn't to be as Oxford were able to leapfrog over Reading in the league with a 1-2 win.
Oxford are now in 18th place on 15 points whilst Reading lie just behind after the defeat in 19th, also on 15 points but Oxford have played one game more.

This page is maintained by James Beard.