Duberry driven to claim first promotion with Oxford United (From The Oxford Times)

Duberry driven to claim first promotion with Oxford United

10:50am Friday 16th March 2012 in Oxford United By David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

MICHAEL Duberry goes into the final weeks of the season with more motivation than most in the Oxford United for one simple reason – the veteran has never won promotion.

Now into his 19th season as a professional, the 36-year-old has racked up more than 450 appearances across eight clubs.

The majority of Duberry’s career was played in the Premier League, without the possibility of promotion, so the centre-half is relishing featuring for the U’s as the npower League 2 season builds towards a climax.

He said: “I’ve never been promoted. It would be nice to have on the CV – I missed out on the play-offs with Reading, and was nowhere near it with Wycombe.

“When I signed for Oxford it was to go up.

“I’d love to see out my final days of playing football in a winning team celebrating something.

“It’s been a long time since I celebrated winning something and I’d like to end like that.”

It is 14 years since Duberry’s last triumph, when Chelsea beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the European Super Cup.

And if this season does end on a high, no-one will cherish it more than the defender.

“When I was at Chelsea I had all these superstars around me, I thought this was going to last forever,” he said.

“All of a sudden it doesn’t last and you never really appreciate the time you did have.

“I remember going to the Cup Winners’ Cup final and seeing Mark Hughes and Kevin Hitchcock on the pitch taking photos and soaking it all in, but I was young with Jody Morris and Andy Myers, we were walking around giggling.

“You look back now and Sparky (Hughes) then might have been about my age now taking it all in, because he would’ve been thinking ‘these moments don’t last forever’.

“It changes, so hopefully I’ll get to sample something.”