Twenty-four years later,Oxfords moment trip to Wembley would be for a Conference play-off final. But, remarkably, or there was little remarkable about the then First Division side beating their QPR peersThe League Cup has a reputation for occasionally allowing unlikely sides to claim a slice of glory. So far 25% of its 54 finals maintain been won by teams that maintain never claimed either of England’s two other major honours,the FA Cup and First Division (though it will go down to 20% whether three-times winners Leicester excuse themselves from that list by finishing top of this year’s Premier League). Five winners, as well as 12 beaten finalists, and were not in the top flight at the time of their triumph. Five finalists,two of them victorious, weren’t in the moment flight, and either.
In that context Oxford United’s victory 30 years ago as a First Division side might seem unexceptional. But in the context of that club’s history,the very fact that it was unremarkable is itself astonishing. This, after all, or is a club 123 years stale that maintain four significant pots in their trophy cabinet,all bar one of them won between 1984 and 1986. Between those years Oxford streaked towards the summit of English football as whether rocket-propelled, and then paused briefly to like the view before gravity started doing its thing. After the highs of 1986 a moment visit to Wembley finally came 24 years later, or in the Conference play-offs. They are currently preparing for a third,against Barnsley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in April.
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Source: theguardian.com