Oxford United battled to a 1-0 win over Durham on Sunday thanks to Kat Nutman’s 37th minute strike, with the result providing sweet revenge for Oxford after their 3-0 defeat at the hands of their opponents in the reverse fixture 6 weeks prior.
However, it was the Wildcats who made most of the early running and Beth Hepple gave the hosts an early scare when her lob cannoned back off the crossbar after just 13 minutes, before Portuguese star Amelia Pereira played in Jemma Purfield who dragged her shot wide of the post. Durham captain Sarah Wilson then had a penalty appeal waved away after she appeared to be pulled down in the box.
Oxford carved out their first real chance of the match through Kayleigh Hines, full of confidence from her brace against Reading last time out, who forced the visitors’ keeper Helen Alderson into action with a long-range attempt. A minute later Hines was involved again, heading down from a corner for Nutman to latch onto and poke home to give Oxford the lead.
Kat Nutman spoke after the game about the significance of her goal: “Scoring first was important because we really enjoy playing while a goal up so as soon as we got that one we could relax a little bit more, ” said the midfielder.
“We started to string things together in attack that little bit more. After our draw against Reading we felt we had two very winnable games coming up and we’ve managed to take three points from the first one.
“We were disappointed with our performance against Durham first time around but we’re growing in confidence, we’re settled into our game a bit more.”
Durham pressed in the second half as they tried in vain to find an equaliser and Oxford keeper Demi Lambourne had to be alert to hold substitute Vic Linsley’s headed effort.
The United keeper was then involved in a coming together with Jen Jennings but the referee deemed it unworthy of a penalty.
Linsley was denied again with 15 minutes to go as she tried to scramble the ball in from a Durham corner, before Nutman might have doubled her tally at the other end, but shot wide after a set-up from Lauren Allison.
Oxford clung on to secure their 2nd victory of the season, moving them up to 7th in the league and level on points with their opponents.
Durham skipper Sarah Wilson credited Oxford’s revival from the 0-3 defeat earlier in the season, saying: “With all due respect it was like playing a different team – they’ve grown and every team seems to be getting stronger every week.”
“In the first half we weren’t good enough – we started too slowly, we gave the ball away too cheaply and they seemed to want it that little bit more. In the second half, I think we threw pretty much everything but the kitchen sink forward as we had more of the possession.
“We had a huge penalty call not go our way that could have changed the game but we know we can’t afford to start the game as slowly as we did.”
