The 2015–16 season was Oxford United's sixth consecutive season in League Two and 122nd year in existence. As well as competing in League Two, the club also participated in the FA Cup, League Cup and League Trophy. The season covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.
After spending most of the season in the top three, Oxford finally confirmed automatic promotion to League One on the last day of the regular season, with a 3–0 home victory over Wycombe Wanderers. The Us finished in second place with 86 points, 13 behind runaway leaders Northampton Town. Oxford's 14 away wins in the league set a new club record for a single season. Midfielder Kemar Roofe was the club's leading scorer, with 18 league goals and 26 in all competitions.
United beat higher-division opposition in all three senior cup competitions and reached the final of the League Trophy at Wembley Stadium, only the club's third appearance at the national stadium. In the opening round of the League Cup they eliminated Brentford of the Championship with a 4–0 away win, before losing 1–0 to another Championship side, Sheffield Wednesday, in the second round. They reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, recording a notable 3–2 victory over Premier League side Swansea City in the third round, but were knocked out of the competition by Blackburn Rovers in the next round. In their run to the final of the League Trophy, they beat local rivals Swindon Town of League One in the second round, and Millwall, also of League One, over two legs in the area semi-final, before losing 3–2 to Barnsley in the final. United won the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, beating Oxford City 6–1 in the final, three days after securing their league promotion.
Transfers
Transfers in Date from Position Nationality Name From Fee Ref. 1 July 2015 AM Kemar Roofe West Bromwich Albion Undisclosed 1 July 2015 CM Liam Sercombe Exeter City Free transfer 1 July 2015 GK Sam Slocombe Scunthorpe United Free transfer 1 July 2015 CF Ryan Taylor Portsmouth Free transfer 13 August 2015 CM John Lundstram Everton Free transfer 4 September 2015 GK Benjamin Büchel AFC Bournemouth Free transfer 21 September 2015 LW Jonny Giles Free agent Free transfer 6 November 2015 DF Cameron Gayle Free agent Free transfer 22 January 2016 FW Jordan Bowery Rotherham United Free transfer 1 February 2016 FW Chris Maguire Rotherham United Free transfer
Transfers out Date from Position Nationality Name To Fee Ref. 1 July 2015 CF Jeremy Balmy Swindon Town Released 1 July 2015 CB Matt Bevans Wealdstone Released 1 July 2015 CF John Campbell Free Agent Released 1 July 2015 CF Will Hoskins Exeter City Free transfer 1 July 2015 LB Jonathan Meades AFC Wimbledon Free transfer 1 July 2015 RW Josh Shama Free agent Released 1 July 2015 RB Andy Whing Retired 2 July 2015 GK Ryan Clarke Northampton Town Free transfer 7 January 2016 MF Michael Collins Bengaluru FC Released 1 February 2016 MF Danny Rose Northampton Town Released 7 March 2016 MF Aidan Hawtin Valdres FK Released 7 March 2016 MF Sam Humphreys Valdres FK Released 31 May 2016 DF Johnny Mullins Luton Town Released 31 May 2016 DF Danny Hylton Luton Town Released
Loans in Date from Position Nationality Name From Date until Ref. 1 July 2015 RB George Baldock Milton Keynes Dons 28 January 2016 28 September 2015 RW Jordan Graham Wolverhampton Wanderers 27 October 2015 26 November 2015 DF Jordan Evans Fulham May 2016 26 November 2015 FW Chris Maguire Rotherham United 17 January 2016 27 January 2016 DF Jonjoe Kenny Everton May 2016 1 February 2016 MF Zeli Ismail Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 March 2016 23 February 2016 FW George Waring Stoke City May 2016
Loans out Date from Position Nationality Name To Date until Ref. 7 August 2015 RB Aidan Hawtin Hayes & Yeading United 4 September 2015 7 August 2015 LB Miles Welch-Hayes North Leigh 4 September 2015 18 September 2015 GK Max Crocombe Barnet 18 October 2015 29 September 2015 CM Josh Ashby AFC Telford United 25 October 2015 29 September 2015 FW James Roberts Chester 3 December 2015 30 September 2015 MF Aidan Hawtin Brackley Town 3 December 2015 2 October 2015 MF Michael Collins York City one month 13 October 2015 DF Freddie Grant Farnborough November 2015 16 October 2015 GK Max Crocombe Southport January 2016 24 November 2015 DF Cameron Gayle Cambridge United 24 January 2016 4 December 2015 MF Josh Ashby Brackley Town 4 January 2016 29 January 2016 FW James Roberts Oxford City February 2016 29 January 2016 FW Jonny Giles Southport February 2016 1 February 2016 FW Patrick Hoban Stevenage March 2016 29 February 2016 FW Patrick Hoban Grimsby Town May 2016 29 February 2016 FW James Roberts Barnet March 2016
Competitions
Pre-season friendlies On 18 May 2015, Oxford United announced four pre-season friendlies against Didcot Town, Woking, Eastleigh and Coventry City. On 29 May 2015, Oxford United announced a trip to Austria for a week-long stay, which included a friendly against SC Wiener Neustadt.
League Two
League table
Matches On 17 June 2015, the fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.
Results summary
Results by round
FA Cup
The draw for the first round was made live on BBC Two on Monday 26 October 2015, with Oxford drawn away to Braintree Town.
League Cup
On 16 June 2015, the first round draw was made, Oxford United were drawn away against Brentford. In the second round, Oxford United drew another Championship side away from home, Sheffield Wednesday.
Football League Trophy
On 5 September 2015, the second round draw was shown live on Soccer AM and drawn by Charlie Austin and Ed Skrein. Oxford were drawn at home to Swindon Town. Having beaten their local rivals 2–0, Oxford were drawn away to fellow League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge in the Area Quarter-Final, a match that also ended in a 2–0 victory. Oxford beat Yeovil Town of League Two 3–2 in the Area Semi-final to meet Millwall of League One in the two-legged Area Final. Oxford won the first leg at The Den, leading scorer Kemar Roofe netting both the goals and, despite losing the second leg at the Kassam Stadium, reached the Wembley final 2–1 on aggregate.
In the final against Barnsley, United led 1–0 at half-time through a goal from Callum O'Dowda. An own-goal by Chey Dunkley early in the second half was followed by goals from Ashley Fletcher and Adam Hammill to give Barnsley a two-goal cushion. A header from Danny Hylton in the 76th minute reduced the deficit, but United were unable to find an equaliser in the remaining minutes and suffered defeat at Wembley for the first time in their history.
Squad statistics
Appearances and goals
Top scorers
PlacePositionNationNumberNameLeague TwoFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal1MF 4 Kemar Roofe 18 3 1 4 262MF 8 Liam Sercombe 14 2 1 0 173FW 10 Danny Hylton 12 0 1 1 144FW 15 Callum O'Dowda 8 0 0 2 105FW 29 Jordan Bowery 7 0 0 0 76MF 11 Alex MacDonald 5 0 0 1 67FW 9 Patrick Hoban 2 2 0 1 5FW 28 Chris Maguire 4 0 0 1 59FW 20 Ryan Taylor 3 1 0 0 4DF 33 Chey Dunkley 4 0 0 0 411MF 18 John Lundstram 3 0 0 0 312DF 2 George Baldock 2 0 0 0 213DF 5 Johnny Mullins 0 0 1 0 1FW 7 George Waring 1 0 0 0 1DF 36 Jordan Evans 0 0 0 1 1TOTALS79849100
Disciplinary record
NumberNationPositionNameLeague TwoFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal1 GK Sam Slocombe 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 02 DF George Baldock 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 03 DF Joe Skarz 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 04 MF Kemar Roofe 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 05 MF Johnny Mullins 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 16 DF Jake Wright 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 07 MF Danny Rose 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 08 MF Liam Sercombe 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 110 FW Danny Hylton 9 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 11 011 MF Alex MacDonald 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 014 MF Josh Ruffels 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 015 FW Callum O'Dowda 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 016 MF Jordan Graham 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 116 DF Jonjoe Kenny 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 018 MF John Lundstram 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 120 FW Ryan Taylor 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 028 FW Chris Maguire 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 031 FW James Roberts 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 033 DF Chey Dunkley 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0TOTALS59 3 6 1 3 0 5 0 73 4
References