5,327 days later... the same game!

A memorable game in a memorable season for both clubs

Tomorrow is 5,327 days since the first Football League match that I attended* way back on Saturday 20th September 2003.

The two teams that locked horns that day were Doncaster Rovers and Oxford United at the dilapidated but homely sh*thole that was Belle Vue - a venue which had more character to it than most venues nowadays, but that's worthy of a different topic altogether.

Tomorrow will be the first time since that the fixture list has thrown up the exact same fixture - bringing with it a sense of nostalgia, although there's little riding on the game with Rovers already safe in mid-table and Oxford not too far behind and probably needing just one more win to firmly put any lingering relegation worries to bed.

Football has evolved somewhat since 2003, but back then the U's went into the game unbeaten and top of the table whilst Donny were on a six-match winless streak.

The formbook suggested an away win. Instead, Oxford got their backsides walloped and a thunderbolt strike from Tim Ryan before half-time and a second half finish by Paul Green consigned the visitors to their only defeat in the first 20 or so matches of the season.

It was undoubtedly a turning point in the season for Rovers, who went on to win 12 of their next 14 matches before continuing their good form in the second half of the campaign and ultimately winning the Division Three title against the odds. Two seasons later, they were Carling Cup quarter-finalists; a year after Johnstone's Paint Trophy winners and finally, in 2008, they made it to the second tier for the first time in half a century.

Oxford, meanwhile, fell apart in the New Year. Manager Ian Atkins was dismissed and replaced by the controversial Graham Rix, who oversaw the side slip from promotion certainties to not even achieving a play-off place which looked absolutely certain at Christmas. Two years later, the club was relegated and it took them four years (and lots of frustration) before they returned to the Football League.

Whilst the game tomorrow probably won't provide as much drama, or act as a turning point for any team, it'll definitely have a sense of nostalgia about it.

*Apart from the last 10 minutes of a game at The Hawthorns between West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town, which finished in a 1-1 draw, in April 2001. Coincidentally, these two teams also met in a league fixture for the first time since earlier this season as well.