Oxfrord 0, Blackpool 1

A TEN-yard header from John Murphy was enough to secure a one goal to nill victory at Oxford for the jubilant travelling Seasiders.

In a superb opening 45 minutes from the Seasiders, Murphy, together with loan signing Chris Lumsdon, tore apart Oxford.

It took Murphy just 17 minutes to get his name on the scoresheet, and he did it in style.

Lumsdon stormed down the right wing and placed a superb ball into the centre of the box.

Murphy, with lightning-quick reactions, escaped the attention of defender Phil Whelan and placed his header into the bottom-left corner. 1-0.

But by that time, the Seasiders could have been 3-0 up, thanks to the efforts of Lumsdon. On nine minutes, he attempted an audatious 40-yard lob and six minutes later, side-footed wide from only 15 yards when he should have done better. Murphy almost doubled his tally three minutes into the second-half when he fired his shot against the underside of Lundin's bar. But he looked suspiciously offside when Junior Bent passed the ball through to him. Oxford moved swiftly to regain their composure and fired the ball upfield to Derek Lilley, who fired a thunderbolt from 20-yards, forcing Tony Caig to dive to his left to make the save.

The Blackpool stopper was in fine form in the second-half, keeping the Seasiders in the game.

Substitute Steve Anthrobus' six-yard header was collected by Caig on 82 minutes, mirroring a save from Matt Murphy eight minutes earlier.

But Blackpool were also saved by luck. Oxford went agonisingly close to snatching a share of the points in the final minute.

Right back Les Robinson unleashed a vicious 20-yarder with the last kick of the match, sending the ball crashing against the post.

Despite that fright Pool manager Steve McMahon was more than pleased with the points from the match. He commented: "This was an important win and we played some great football in the first-half.

"Tony Caig has had a good game and he'll be delighted he kept a clean sheet."

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