Chris Hackett agrees with Oxford United fans – the best way to win promotion is at Wembley.
And U’s supporters will undoubtably agree with him – the best way to do it is to beat Swindon!
Hackett, who is Oxford born and bred, was part of the Millwall team which beat Swindon 1-0 on Saturday to win the League One play-off final at Wembley, and secure promotion to the Championship.
And while his priorities are clearly with the Lions, Hackett said that beating Danny Wilson’s Robins in the final, did make it that bit sweeter.
“I’m an Oxford lad through and through,” he said.
“I got stick off the Swindon fans when we played them earlier this season, so of course it’s nice to beat them.
“The main thing was to obviously win promotion – but doing it against them does give it an extra edge.
“I’ve had plenty of texts and messages from Oxford fans saying well done.”
Hackett feared that his season might be over when he tore a groin in the final game of the regulation season – ironically against Swindon.
He was forced to miss the play-off semi-final matches against Huddersfield, and only trained for the first time a day before the final.
But he was named as a substitute, and got his chance with 20 minutes to go when he came on for Shaun Batt, the brother of Oxford right back Damian.
“I played something like 48 games this season, so couldn’t believe it when I got injured in the last game,” Hackett said.
“I only trained on the Friday before, had to have pain-killing injections to play, but the manager wanted me involved and it is just unbelievable.
“To play at Wembley and win promotion there is the best feeling ever.”
Hackett was due to go to Wembley and watch Oxford take on York in the Blue Square Premier play-off final a fortnight ago, but his injury ruled him out of that too.
“Because it only happened a day before, I had to go and have lots of treatment,” he explained.
“I had a ticket and wanted to watch Oxford, but just couldn’t.
“I saw the game on TV though, and I was over the moon when they won it – they are certainly back where they belong and from what I saw of them, they can do well next season.
“There isn’t a massive different between the leagues, and with the extra places for promotion in League Two, hopefully they’ll do very well.”
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