Puncture ends football fan's 1,226-match run

A die-hard Oxford United fan was forced to miss his first match in 23 years at the weekend when his car suffered a puncture.

Andy James had witnessed every league and cup match featuring the U's since 1989 - a run which included over 1,200 games.

However, the 59-year-old was unable to attend Saturday's 4-0 defeat at Burton Albion after two of the tyres on his BMW began to deflate just 20 miles away from the Pirelli Stadium.

"I am gutted. I didn't expect to miss one so close to home," James told the Oxford Mail. "We hoped to get there just after kick-off, but we were taken to a garage about 3.30pm and it was 5pm by the time we got away from there.

"There was nothing we could do. We were all disappointed."

According to Soccerbase.com, James's run of 1,226 matches included 439 Oxford wins, 462 defeats and 325 draws.