Josh Windass drilled a right-footed drive from the edge of the area five minutes before the break to give Wrexham a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday, the only goal of the game.
The strike was Windass's fifth in his last six matches and his 14th Championship goal since signing from Sheffield Wednesday in July 2025, a run of form that has kept him at the centre of Wrexham's late-season push.
The result moved Wrexham back into the Championship play-off places, leapfrogging Hull City into sixth with two games to play, and represented their second successive victory. Oxford United, meanwhile, leave the Kassam five points from safety after the defeat.
Wrexham's dominance over this fixture was plain in the numbers: they are unbeaten in their last 13 Football League games against Oxford United and have beaten them in four consecutive home league meetings — a sequence stretching back to Oxford's last home win over Wrexham in November 2005, when they won 3-0. The head-to-head ledger now reads W10 D3 in Wrexham's favour.
Oxford made a selection change before kick-off, naming Jamie McDonnell in the starting side instead of Jamie Donley. Their XI for the match read Cumming, Long, Brown, Konak, Helik, Brannagan, Spencer, Mills, Lankshear, McDonnell and Peart-Harris.
The immediate context sharpens the stakes. Wrexham's victory tightens the battle for the playoff spots as the season winds to a close; with two fixtures left they have reduced the margin between themselves and the top six's challengers. Oxford, by contrast, face the prospect of having their relegation confirmed by Wednesday night's results unless they can begin to pick up points quickly.
Tension on both sides is obvious. Wrexham travel to champions Coventry City on Sunday for a fixture that will be an acid test of whether Windass's goals are enough to carry them through the final week. Oxford return to home duties on Saturday against already relegated Sheffield Wednesday, a match that now reads like a must-win if they are to keep faint survival hopes alive.
Windass's contribution is the clearest takeaway: five goals in six games and 14 since arriving in July 2025 have directly produced vital points, and his strike at the Kassam was the decisive moment that nudged Wrexham back into the playoff picture. How he and the team respond in consecutive away and home tests this weekend will almost certainly determine whether Wrexham remain in the top six with two games to play.
