The day the Hatters won 7-4
Ever seen an 11-goal thriller? Chances are if you were on this planet and, more specifically at Kenilworth Road on this day in 1988, you have.
The Hatters hadn’t won on 6th February in 13 attempts until Oxford United set foot on Bedfordshire soil on this day 26 years ago.
It didn’t take long for the scoring to start. Six minutes to be precise when Mick Harford put the Town 1-0 up. One then became two 14 minutes later when Brian Stein doubled the Hatters’ lead.
And then something strange happened. Both teams completed forgot how to defend.
The 8,063 paying punters inside the ground lost count. Both teams went goal crazy. Somewhere in amongst the dodgy defending Mark Stein scored an 11-minute hat-trick.
So after being 2-0 in the Town’s favour the game panned out like this:
On 34 minutes it was 2-1, on 35 minutes it was 3-1, on 41 minutes it 3-2…
…on 51 minutes it was 4-2, on 53 minutes it was 5-2…
…it was 5-3 on 61 minutes, 6-3 on 62 minutes and 6-4 on 65 minutes.
And then, on 71 minutes, Harford scored his second. The goal of the game. A trademark header from Big Mick. Luton Town 7-4 Oxford United.
There was still 19 minutes left. 19 more minutes to score a few more, no? Luton Town 12-8 Oxford United perhaps?
Alas no. 7-4 it finished.
That season only champions Liverpool and runners-up Manchester United scored more goals at home than the Town. But no other clubs conceded more on their travels than Oxford. Strange that.