In the first half of the season Oxford led the table several times and were rarely outside the automatic promotion places, mainly thanks to an impressive points haul away from home (they were the last team in the top four divisions to be beaten away from home, not losing an away match in the league until defeat at Newport County in February).
On 25 January 2014, with the club faltering though still in the play-off places, Chris Wilder resigned as manager to take up the reins at relegation-threatened Northampton Town.
[1] Neither Lewis nor Waddock managed to halt the Us' loss of form and they slipped out of the play-off places in the final few weeks of the season, losing 11 of their last 15 league fixtures and finishing a disappointing eighth in the table, 9 points off the last play-off place.
At half-time in the FA Cup 3rd round an upset had seemed likely when Oxford were beating their higher-division opponents 2–0, but they conceded two goals to the home side in the second half and were beaten 3–0 in the subsequent replay at the Kassam Stadium.
It was the club's 120th year in existence, their 114th of competitive football and their 65th since turning professional.