The puff of the cheeks, the steady left foot, the huge grin. To all Oxford United supporters it meant only one thing - Mike Ford was back, reports Mark Edwards.

And the welcome that Fordy got when he walked onto the Manor Ground pitch last night showed just how highly regarded he is still held by the U's fans.

Ten years at United had brought the 34-year-old a hard-earned testimonial and it was an occasion he will never forget.

The fact that Oxford beat a young Manchester United XI 3-2 was irrelevant. The fans had come to pay their respects to a loyal and cheerful captain who always gave his all for the club. The game also saw supporters given the chance to welcome back some of the greatest players to wear United's yellow shirt over the past decade as they in turn paid their respects to Ford.

Matt Elliott, Phil Gilchrist, Jim Magilton, Stuart Massey and Phil Whitehead were all given a warm welcome back to the Manor and teamed up with Jonathan Gould, Mickey Lewis, Peter Rhoades-Brown and Ford himself to form an all-star team after the break.

The scoreline didn't matter but goals from Chris Hackett, Derek Lilley and Magilton earned Oxford the victory in front of 6,123 fans.

"Not many players have the chance to say a proper goodbye and thank you to supporters but I had that tonight," said Ford. "To have over 6,000 here was fantastic and walking out onto the pitch again felt great. I was always one of the more lively characters here but it is the atmosphere at this club that everyone enjoys and why these players came back tonight." And his former teammates had nothing but good words for Ford, who is currently out-of-contract at present club Cardiff.

"Fordy was a very good talker both on and off the pitch," said Elliott. "He would never let standards dip and his enthausiasm for the game got through to everyone while I was here."

"His appetite for the game was unbelievable," said Alex Ferguson's No 2 Steve McClaren, who worked with Ford during his time at Oxford as reserve manager. "He was always one of the leading characters in the dressing room and never failed to give anything less than 110 per cent. The thing about him more than anything else though was that he wanted to win so badly."

Hackett gave Oxford the lead after just four minutes when he scored his first-ever goal for the first team, heading home a Simon Weatherstone cross.

Lilley doubled the lead with a left-foot shot from ten yards, but the visitors pulled a goal back when Darren Fletcher shot under Richard Knight's body a minute before the break. Jonathan Greening drew the sides level with the goal of the game, but the combination of Massey and Elliott allowed Magilton to stab the ball home from close range for the winner.

There was still time for Whitehead to show his class, pulling off a quite incredible save from Alex Notman late on.

But the last word must go to Fordy.

"You are made so welcome at this club - it's just so friendly. I'd like to thank everyone for making tonight so special and if you look at the lads that played out there tonight it wouldn't make a bad side would it? Well, that's except for Rosie, who had a shocker!

"I really enjoyed it in midfield tonight, but the problem is that you have to do a lot of running when you are playing alongside Jim Magilton!"

MATCH FACTS:

Oxford United: Knight (Gould H/T, P Whitehead 63), Folland, Powell (Lewis 71), D Whitehead (Magilton H/T, Hackett 78), Davis (Shepheard H/T), Whelan (Gilchrist H/T), Murphy (Ford H/T), Cook (Rhoades-Brown H/T, D Whitehead 85), Weathestone (Elliott 61), Lilley (Cook 55), Hackett (Massey H/T).

Man Utd: Culkin (Rachubka 58), Clegg, Higginbotham (Roche 58), Wallwork, O'Shea, Stewart, Fletcher (Cosgrove 70), Twiss, Greening, Notman, Djordjic (Evans 58).

Attendance: 6,123

Referee: C Wilkes.

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