Oxford United's new deadly duo (From The Oxford Times)

Oxford United's new deadly duo

8:00am Thursday 20th August 2009 in 08/09 Reports

Britain was in the middle of the national miners' strike the last time Oxford United scored four goals in successive league games.

It was back in December 1984 that United last found the net with such devastating potency two games running.

They hammered Cardiff City 4-0 at home on the Boxing Day, with doubles from John Aldridge and Billy Hamilton, and then crushed Crystal Palace 5-0 at the Manor three days later, with Hamilton and Bobby McDonald each bagging a brace and Aldridge getting the other.

That was on their way to winning the Second Division Championship, but while no-one is getting too carried away by this week's 4-3 success at Histon and 4-0 victory over Chester City, one similarity with 25 years ago is significant.

Back in that 1984 Christmas holiday heydey, Aldridge and Hamilton scored seven of United's nine goals in those two games.

This week, James Constable and Matt Green have bagged seven of the U's eight goals to signal a similarly devastating partnership, and their celebrations show how much each enjoys feeding off the other.

After the midweek crushing of Chester, when Constable completed his first hat-trick for the club, he admitted they were working well in producing assists for each other.

"I got him one and luckily he got me me a couple," he said. "I think if we keep going and finish with a decent amount of goals, and are up there towards the top, we'll both be delighted with that.

"It's a nice feeling to be top of the table. Obviously, we've got big games coming up and it was always important to get off to a better start than we did last season. If we can continue that, I think everyone will be happy."

But manager Chris Wilder is warning that Stevenage will be a much tougher test at the Kassam Stadium.

"It's a much bigger test coming up," said the U's boss.