| Cup saga to end
at Manor 11 November 1999 |
| OXFORD
City's FA Cup saga against Wycombe Wanderers is to be
settled at the Manor Ground next Tuesday. The Football Association held an emergency meeting in London yesterday after the first-round replay was abandoned after extra time on Tuesday with the score at 1-1. The game at Wycombe's Adams Park was called off on safety advice after a fire under the City fans' stand |
-
just as the teams were about to embark on a penalty
shoot-out. Now the FA have ruled that the replay was "completed", and that a second replay should take place at 7.45pm on Tuesday. Two balls were put into a bag and with City drawn first, the FA ordered the game to be played at the Manor, following an offer from Oxford United. |
City
chairman Mick Woodley said the first choice would have
been to play at home at Court Place Farm, but he was
happy to go to the "neutral" Manor Ground. He said: "It was our second choice, and we are very keen to play back in Oxford, especially after the problems of Tuesday night. At least it gives Oxford fans, and a lot of others, the chance to get behind us."
|
The
other option was for both clubs to return to Wycombe for
the penalty shoot-out, but neither club wanted that. United secretary Mick Brown said he was pleased to be hosting the game - not least because he was at the replay and had every sympathy for City. "It was very much an anti-climax, and City had every chance going into the penalties - at worst 50-50, and the way things had unfolded, maybe a better chance than that. |