Rangers loanee Brandon Barker was sorely missed for adopted club Oxford United as a winning run in League One came to a crashing end this week.
The Us had won three games on the bounce – including a 6-0 win over Crewe Alexandra which contained a superb Barker individual goal – before falling to a 2-1 defeat to AFC Wimbledon.
The result was even sorer given they were 1-0 up through Josh Ruffels before being reduced to 10 men after James Henry was sent packing.
Joe Pigott scored the resultant penalty and Alex Woodyard netted the second strike only two minutes later leaving Oxford United 2-1 down.
This result is a big one for Oxford in their hunt for a League One play-off place, the renewed form cause for optimism as they hunted down a chance to gain promotion.
However, the result leaves Oxford in 7th, one place and one point off the playoffs having played two games more than three of the four sides in the spots above them.
They have three games left in the season.
Barker, 24, has been an influential figure for Oxford but he was subbed off after only six minutes at the weekend with the club’s official website citing an ankle knock after the game.
Since then it’s been revealed that the winger has a hamstring issue with manager Karl Robinson wanting to “make sure we do everything right” due to the fact Barker is a Rangers player [Oxford Mail].
As a result, Barker was left out of the squad for the Wimbledon match completely and the Rangers loanee was sorely missed as their promotion hopes took a major blow.
Barker has been routinely praised by Oxford since moving to the Kassam Stadium with fans of the English third tier’s side claiming they want him signed up permanently.
