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Bizarre situation brought Oxford’s team bus to a halt before game against Accrington

A bizarre situation occurred, which brought Oxford’s team bus to a halt before their League One game against Accrington Stanley on Saturday afternoon.

The U’s have had a tough start to the league season, losing 2-0 away to Lincoln City and then again at home to Sunderland, placing them bottom of the table.

They went into the game knowing that it was vital that they picked up at least a point, and instead they came away with all three.

However before the game, as part of coronavirus precautions, an alcohol-based spray is deployed once everyone is let onto the coach.

This in turn triggered the breathalyser used by the bus driver as a safety measure, and subsequently left the team stranded at their hotel half an hour away from the Crown Ground.

The coach driver had not touched a drop but the 70% proof spray rendered the coach unusable for the next six hours.

So squad members had to find an alternative way to make it so they could play out the fixture.

Head coach Karl Robinson, who is juggling an injury-hit squad, said: “A lot of clubs at our level aren’t doing Covid regulations properly, they’re miles off it in some places.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on making sure our players are safe and everything that goes with it.

“The problem is the blowing machine got affected by the alcohol gel on the coach, which meant when he (the driver) blew into it the coach stalled and wouldn’t start for six hours.

“We had to use staff cars, taxis, you name it to get to the ground.”

He added: “This week has certainly been sent to test us.

“It is what it is, you can’t change it. We know things aren’t falling in our favour.

“But it won’t affect our attitude, the players are motivated by what’s gone wrong.

“That’s the beauty of life, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

The amusing moment even got talked about by Jeff Stelling on Sky Sports News….

After that was all sorted, the U’s went on to picked up a much needed with at Accrington, taking them off bottom and into 12th place.

The play-off finalists of last season started strongly, 23 year old Dan Agyei hitting the crossbar with a header, before Joe Pritchard cleared a Rob Atkinson strike off the goal line to keep in level.

Karl Robinson’s side managed to break the deadlock after 45 minutes, their first league goal of the season thanks to James Henry who slid the ball home from Agyei’s low ball cross.

Stanley got themselves back in the game with an equaliser on the 72nd minute, keeper Simon Eastwood catching Harvey Rodgers as he came out to clear and Watford loan striker Ryan Cassidy scoring the penalty.

From the kick-off, Joel Cooper sent in a cross, which was cleared by Mark Hughes but the ball ended up hitting the back of Cameron Brannagan and headed into the goal on the 73rd minute to give Oxford the lead again.

Stanley headed down the other end, got embroiled in a goalmouth scramble, and Dion Charles was sent off in the 75th minute after pushing keeper Eastwood.

Matty Taylor, who signed permanently in the summer following a loan deal from Bristol City, volleyed home with five minutes of normal time remaining, then two minutes later, his header rolled over the line, making it 4-1.

Fans reacted to the bizarre situation brought Oxford’s team bus to a halt before game against Accrington…

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