Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Oxford United: FLW report as Josh Murphy sends Yellows back to the Championship | OneFootball

Oxford United are back in the Championship after more than two decades away after beating Bolton Wanderers 2-0 in the League One play-off final at Wembley with Josh Murphy their hero.

Murphy continued his outstanding finish to the 2023/24 campaign by bagging a first-half double, curling in the opener and then rounding the keeper to double the deficit, and an out-of-sorts Wanderers were never able to respond.

A dream day out at Wembley for Yellows, whose 20-plus years away from the second tier saw them fall as low as the National League, while Bolton now face a third season in League One and questions are likely to be asked of Ian Evatt after play-off defeats in consecutive seasons.

Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Oxford United

Oxford will have been the happier team in an expectedly cagey opening, with Des Buckingham's side moving the ball nicely and causing a few problems. It was Bolton that had the first sight of goal just after the quarter of an hour mark, however, when Josh Sheehan fired a long-range strike just wide of Jamie Cumming's left-hand post.

That effort came as Wanderers looked to grab control of the game but Ruben Rodrigues was the next to go close. In the 24th minute, the Oxford midfielder took advantage of the space offered to him by the Trotters' backline and pushed an edge-of-the-box effort a little too high and a little too wide.

Bolton would not get off as lightly with United's next foray forward, which saw the Yellows take the lead just after the half hour through a familiar source. Murphy, whose late-season form was integral to the U's reaching the play-offs, cut in from the left, shook off Josh Dacres-Cogley, and unleashed a curling effort that flicked off the top of Ricardo Santos' head and beat a diving Nathan Baxter.

10 minutes later, he brought up double figures for the season to put Buckingham's side in the driving seat. Rodrigues' brilliance caught the Bolton backline napping – the former Notts County man killed a high ball with a single touch before putting a brilliant first-time ball in behind, which was collected by Murphy, who rounded Baxter and finished from a tight angle.

Two down at the break, Wanderers had it all to do and endured hardly the ideal start to the half when Paris Maghoma was forced off, though his replacement Kyle Dempsey was one of Bolton's Wembley heroes when they beat Plymouth Argyle 4-0 in last season's EFL Trophy final.

Dempsey's introduction helped Evatt's side put some pressure on but that left space for Oxford to exploit on the break and again it was Murphy causing the problems. The 29-year-old wasn't able to capitalise, however, as he slid a first attempt wide of the post and put his next right at Baxter.

Oxford's hopes of protecting their lead took a sizable dent with a little more than 25 minutes to go as captain Cameron Brannagan, their beating heart in midfield, was forced off due to injury and replaced by Marcus McGuane.

For all Wanderers' pressure, it was the U's that continued to look the more threatening. Owen Dale's dash forward earned them a dangerous free-kick right on the edge of the box and Joe Bennett forced Baxter, who had clattered the winger to concede the set piece in the first place, to parry a curling effort wide at his near post.

Murphy had a third chance for his hat-trick as we entered the final 10 minutes, nodding wide after Dale stood a cross up at the back post, and then moments later substitute Cameron Jerome let a huge Bolton opportunity go begging by heading over the top.

Evatt's side struggled to conjure up anything more substantial as the time ticked away at Wembley and even in the nine minutes of added time they were unable to test Jamie Cumming – with the waves of Yellow shirts ahead of him doing their job.

The final whistle brought jubilation for Oxford, whose long wait for a return to the Championship is finally over, but disappointment for Bolton in equal measure as they're sentenced to another season in League One.

FULL TIME: BOLTON WANDERERS 0-2 OXFORD UNITED

Bolton Wanderers player ratings

Nathan Baxter - 6

Gethin Jones - 6

Ricardo Santos - 5

Eoin Toal - 5

Josh Dacres-Cogley - 6

Paris Maghoma - 5 (Kyle Dempsey (49) - 6)

Josh Sheehan - 6 (Jack Iredale (65) - 5)

George Thomason - 5

Nathaniel Ogbeta - 6 (Victor Adeboyejo (66) - 5)

Dion Charles - 5 (Cameron Jerome (66) - 5)

Aaron Collins - 6

Unused subs: Joel Coleman, Will Forrester, Aaron Morley,

Oxford United player ratings

Jamie Cumming - 6

Sam Long - 7

Elliott Moore - 7

Ciaron Brown - 7

Joe Bennett - 7 (Greg Leigh (87) - 6)

Tyler Goodrham - 7

Cameron Brannagan - 7 (Marcus McGuane (64) - 7)

Ruben Rodrigues - 8 (Josh McEachran (80) - 6)

Owen Dale - 7

Mark Harris - 6

Josh Murphy - 9

Unused subs: Simon Eastwood, Billy Bodin, Marcus Browne, Fin Stevens

Attendance

The attendance at Wembley for Bolton Wanderers v Oxford United in the League One play-off final was 70,472

Ian Evatt post-match reaction

The Wanderers boss cut a frustrated figure speaking after the game.

Reflecting on the game, he said: "Really tough (to take), we were unrecognisable. We're normally a fast, energetic team. Today we were the opposite of that from minute one. There wasn't any one player, it was a collective thing. There's not one player in white today that can come away thinking we've won our individual duel and we've given the best version of ourselves. It's baffling really.

"I'd put that up there with probably the worst performance of our season and on the biggest stage. Great credit to them. I thought they nullified us and showed good energy."

Evatt was unable to explain what went wrong for his side at Wembley.

"There's that much wrong that it's hard to point your finger at one particular thing," he said. "It wasn't in moments, it wasn't in spells, it was all game, it was everybody, which I can maybe put down to pressure and fear, maybe. Mentally I don't think we were tough and strong enough today. When you come in here, there's not really time to reflect but the one thing I would say is that from minute one today, we looked slow, we looked loose with the ball, and that's everything we're not."

Evatt added that it was too soon for him to look forward to the summer or next season.

He said: "There was so much wrong with that performance. There's a lot of soul-searching ahead."

Des Buckingham post-match reaction

"I can't put it into words and that's probably the most special thing about the whole thing," said Buckingham after the game. "This club means so much to so many people and to take it back to the Championship after such a long period and to do it the way we just have against an excellent Bolton Wanderers side."

Asked whether he was tempted to approach the game a bit more conservatively, he replied: "It was very much about trust in the process. Trust the ability that we have, trust the way we play. We just have to pick up moments to do certain things.

"Yes, there's always a temptation to go defensive but if you try and defend against the quality of these opponents at Wembley on a massive pitch, I think you're almost trying not to lose the game and our intention was to come in, and try and win the game and it was about backing ourselves to do that."

Buckingham revealed he would allow himself a few days to celebrate before looking ahead to next season and the Championship.

He said: "The vision that they set out when I joined the club wasn't just about making it to the Championship, It was about being a sustainable Championship club. So we are ready for that. There's a bit of work that we need to or need to do now as a club to make sure that when that season starts, we are where we need to be."