YANIC Wildschut had extra reasons to celebrate opening his goalscoring account for Oxford United.

The 31-year-old winger played up front in United’s 2-1 win at home to Ipswich Town and scored the first goal of the game shortly after the half hour mark.

His solo strike showed U’s supporters what they have been missing after spending more than four months out with a hamstring injury.

Wildschut had to wait until the goalless draw at Sheffield Wednesday on December 17 to make a first competitive appearance for Karl Robinson’s side.

After working in the gym to get back fit and watching his teammates from the stands for the majority of the season, Wildschut was delighted to grab his first goal in a yellow shirt.

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He said: “It’s weird because I had a feeling before the game that I would score and I was already thinking about celebrations, and speaking to my son about what to do.

“When I scored, I just blanked out and went on my knees – it was a sigh of relief.

“Hopefully we’ll build on from this.

“I feel good now – after being out for so long, you want to play every game.

“I’ve been out for so long and I don’t want to fall back.

“The medical staff, the sports science staff and the manager have been saying to build up because it’s a long season still until the end.”

His goal saw him take control of a long ball from Simon Eastwood, before muscling his way through the Ipswich defence and prodding the ball past Christian Walton.

“I don’t think the defender expected me to take it out of the air because I didn’t really feel him up close to me,” said Wildschut.

“I went through on goal and saw the defender, I went past him and I saw the goalie coming closer.

“He was so big and I toe-poked it – when I saw it hit the back of the net, the feeling was amazing.”

Oxford Mail: Yanic Wildschut opens his goalscoring account for Oxford United. Picture: David FlemingYanic Wildschut opens his goalscoring account for Oxford United. Picture: David Fleming

The goal wasn’t just his first for the U’s after a long injury layoff, but having spent two and a half years with Norwich City, it also came against former rivals.

United’s win at the weekend also went some way towards avenging the 3-0 defeat at Portman Road on Boxing Day, especially for Wildschut as a former Canary.

He said: “I got a bit of abuse on Boxing Day so it certainly felt nice like any goal, especially at home for your first one after so long out.

“Against Ipswich makes it a bit better but it’s not really my battle now.

“If you’re from Norwich it would be extra special but it’s nice to score against Ipswich.”

Cameron Brannagan won the game for United with a stunning strike with seven minutes to go, as the fog thickened at the Kassam Stadium.

“It’s a nice feeling when you get it that late, hopefully we can go on a little run now because we haven’t really been on a good run,” said Wildschut.

“The unbeaten run was loads of draws and that’s not what you’d like.”

On the conditions and visibility on the pitch, Wildschut added: “The first half was alright actually.

“The second half when we came out of the tunnel, it was okay.

“When I came off and went inside for five minutes, I came back and couldn’t see who was playing on the left.

“I knew Ciaron [Brown] was there somewhere, and Brandon [Fleming], but I didn’t know what was happening on the other side.

“It’s nerve-racking when you’re on the bench waiting for the team to get it over the line, but they did really well and it’s nice to have back-to-back wins.”