Niall Jeger joined Oxford United's fans for the crucial relegation match at Stoke "That's it, we're down," said one lad next to me as Port Vale's Allen Tankard scored the only goal of the match to silence the large army of Oxford United fans who made the 2-hour trip to Stoke-on-Trent.

His gloomy statement was echoed by a group of students - who were already planning their trip to Colchester next season in Nationwide Division 2.

Most of the supporters travelled in the coaches laid on for free by the Oxford Mail, Thames Valley FM and United's new owner Firoz Kassam.

But perhaps taking 13 coaches to the crunch relegation match was an omen. The travelling fans certainly didn't give United the 12th player that boss Malcolm Shotton had claimed they would. But they never stopped cheering and they didn't sit down for the whole 90 minutes. The only time the seats were filled was when the chant 'Sit down if you hate Swindon' chorused from the away end.

And at the final whistle, the players were still clapped off the pitch despite a poor display. Not that the day started with any great optimism.

There was no pre-match cheering on coach No.1 and the only sign of activity was when yellow balloons were handed out to be inflated inside the ground.

And perhaps releasing hundreds of balloons shortly before a one-minute's silence in memory victims of the Hillsborough tragedy wasn't the wisest of moves.

Leaving the ground, the away fans reflected on defeat. Jane Porter, 35, from Abingdon, who travelled on the coach, said: "It was nice to be able to travel for free and that was the first away game I have been to this season. Despite the result, I'm glad I went. It's going to be hard to escape the drop now, but you have got to cheer your team on right until the end." James Harris, 24, who lives in Finsbury Park, London, but travelled with friends on the coach said: "I wish I had stayed at home now. We needed to win that one to stand any chance of staying up."

The gloom deepened on the way back with the news that Bury and Bristol City both earned a point to put Oxford in the drop zone and supporters quickly dispersed when they got back to the Manor.

Story date: Monday 19 April

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