Play-offs it is then

"O Football, Football! wherefore art thou Football?
Deny thy promotion and refuse thee the Daggers;
Or, if thou wilt not, but let us back in the league,
And I'll no longer be an Oxford fan."

William Shakespeare's now famous reaction to Dagenham finally clinching the Conference title on Easter Saturday pretty much summed it up for us all. How on earth had a self proclaimed 'Pub team from Essex' not only overturned an 8 point deficit but won the league so easily? At 5pm on Saturday thank to us losing at Northwich Victoria (Yes thats Oxford United losing to NORTHWICH) the title winning margin was a whopping 16 points, a much bigger gap than we had ever hoped to win the league by. I ought to mention at this point that I was at Victoria Road to see the title clinched although I did obviously stand with the ever vocal Aldershot fans rather than the 3000 or so brand new Dagenham supportrers that turned for the first time. Pictures should be available tby Monday 23rd. In what seemed like a deliberate attempt to completely rub our noses in the dagger have finally hit a losing streak going down 3-2 at Cambridge on Easter Monday and then losing their game in hand away at... wait for it... yes Northwich. I would say justice was served but err well despite us hammering Weymouth 4-1 the gap is still 13 points and we still look a bit silly. Never mind.
The reason why I haven't written about the (mis)fortunes of Oxford for a while is that basically haven't had the interest to. Despite some cracking games including a 3-0 win away at Altrincham and a pulsating 2-2 draw at home to those dastardly Daggers it all seemed a little bit pointless when a) catching Dagenham was about as likely Jade Goody becoming a race relations officer and b) it would take an absolute disaster to not make the play-offs. How many times can you write "we won/lost/drew but it doesn't really matter"? Anyway tomorrow we are all off the Clarence Park to watch Oxford play at pretty much the smallest club in the Conference (and thats saying something) St Albans. If we win and Gravesend or Exeter don't then we will have clinched that play-off spot we need and although I've said we will get there anyway, it would be nice to secure it at the earliest possible opportunity.