‘Bolton Wanderers so far off it’: Oxford United join Portsmouth in Championship as they dish out Wembley lesson

Oxford United joined Pompey in the Championship as they won the League One play-off final today in dominant fashion.

Two first-half goals from the impressive Josh Murphy gave the U’s a deserved victory over weak Bolton Wanderers at Wembley.

Ruben Rodrigues provided both goals in the 2-0, as Dec Buckingham’s side made it a painful afternoon for Ian Evatt’s men.

It was a comfortable win for Oxford with Bolton failing to work keeper Jamie Cumming, as they failed to register a shot on target.

Former Pompey loanee Owen Dale was in the starting line-up for the winners, as he helped Buckingham’s side execute a game plan which completely nullified fancied Wanderers.

It’s an incredible turnaround for Buckingham, who was under pressure a few months ago following a difficult start after succeeding Liam Manning in November.

The win was made all the more impressive given Bolton thrashed Oxford 5-0 in the league back in March.

Buckingham’s men racked up 64 per cent possession with Sky Sports pundit Jobi McAnuff pulling no punches about what he saw from Wanderers.

He told Sky Sports: ‘We just did not see Bolton Wanderers as we have all season.

‘They couldn’t get into their passing rhythm. For me, they lacked intensity with the ball and weren’t at it without it.

‘They didn’t offer any threat and Ian Evatt is going to be so disappointed.

‘We talk about people who win games here, it’s the team who turn up and execute the game plan. They were so far off that.’

Two-goal hero Murphy felt his team were good value for victory after riding their luck at times against Peterborough in the semi-final to make it to Wembley.

He said: ‘We played amazingly and are in the Championship now!

‘This group is special, this group is very special. We knew after that game it was sink or swim - and everyone swum today.

‘We have a really good togetherness here and everyone has dug in.

‘I think you saw that in the performance against Peterborough We had our backs to the wall and dug in, but today we’ve played out of our skins.’