It will be unbelievable – Des Buckingham cannot wait to lead Oxford at Wembley
Posted Thursday, May 09, 2024 by PA
Globetrotting Des Buckingham cannot wait to lead hometown club Oxford out at Wembley.
The 39-year-old boss played for the club as a youngster and cut his teeth in coaching in their youth section before heading off to New Zealand, Australia and India to launch his managerial career.
Buckingham returned in November after Liam Manning left for Sky Bet Championship club Bristol City – and now Oxford are one game away from the second tier themselves.
They arrived in Peterborough with a single-goal advantage from last Saturday’s first leg, only to fall behind to Josh Knight’s 39th-minute opener.
But they soon regained the edge as Cameron Brannagan struck his 10th spot-kick of the season in first-half stoppage time to leave Posh suffering semi-final heartbreak for the second successive season.
Buckingham said: “It will be without doubt the proudest moment of my life to lead my hometown club out at Wembley in my first season here.
“We’ve had some tough moments along the way, but people have stuck together so strongly and this is fantastic for everyone associated with the football club.
“I can’t wait now to try to go one step further and reach the Championship. What a wonderful experience it will be.
“We know we will sell out or allocation, no doubt. If we can replicate the atmosphere we had with 12,000 people at the Kassam with 35-40,000 at Wembley, it will be unbelievable.
“We knew coming here would be tough as Peterborough are an excellent team with some wonderful players.
“They were the highest goalscorers in the league for a reason. We knew we would have to weather a storm, but we didn’t plan on having to weather it for quite as long as we did!
“But the players showed a really good desire to defend what we had.”
Posh boss Darren Ferguson admitted: “I know it’s raw right now, but this is as disappointed as I’ve ever felt as it’s such a big opportunity wasted.
“But I’m also proud of my team. We absolutely battered them, but we didn’t get the bit of luck you always need in the play-offs.
“We played like we have all season. We dominated the ball and got the goal we needed, but conceding so quickly after it is what has cost us the tie.
“All we can do is congratulate our opponents on getting to Wembley – very luckily – but they are there.
“The football we’ve played this season is certainly the best I’ve seen in my time here. I’ve loved watching it and working with the lads.
“We were one game away from Wembley and felt we could win there, but we all know football is a cruel game and all we can do now is go again.”
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