FRENCH wing-back Christophe Remy dedicated his first goal for Oxford United to his three-week-old son Lucas - but it couldn't save the U's from a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich on Saturday.

The 27-year-old former Auxerre player, who couldn't remember the last time he scored it was so long ago, burst through the Town defence to fire home a cracking strike in the 43rd minute.

Afterwards, a modest Remy said: "I have not scored for a very long time. I dedicate that goal to my son Lucas.

"As far as I can remember, I started a run from far away - almost the midfield on my side of the pitch - and Deano (Windass) saw me and gave me the ball.

"I had a first touch to go across the sweeper and hit it left-foot. It was OK."

However, despite Remy's satisfaction at ending his long goal drought, he admitted it couldn't hide the fact that Oxford had been beaten.

Windass, who missed out on equalling Paul Moody's United record of scoring in six successive games, is backing Oxford to beat the drop.

He said: "I think we will stay up, without a doubt. I don't think we will get dragged into it now.

"The thing about Oxford is that we do well at home, and if we are consistent at home, we should be all right."

Story date: Monday 22 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.