Mark Harris is currently enjoying the form of his life for Oxford United in the Championship, having emerged as a talismanic figure at the Kassam Stadium following his arrival last summer.

The Welsh forward joined Oxford after being released by Cardiff City and provided the requisite goalscoring form to help propel his side back to the Championship.

He scored 19 times across all competitions as Des Buckingham’s men achieved promotion via the League One play-offs.

His potency in front of goal has promptly translated to the second-tier, which will prove crucial to Oxford’s ambitions of achieving survival while encouraging a source of frustration back in the capital of Wales.

Mark Harris’ Championship form for Oxford United

Oxford have faced natural trials and tribulations upon their long-awaited return to the division and their opening encounters have provided a variation of circumstance.

Harris’ strong showings though, remain a premium constant for the newly-promoted outfit after scoring against Norwich City, Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers.

Indeed, he has scored three times in as many outings and his strike against Blackburn on Saturday afternoon is the pick of the bunch. Though Oxford eventually ended up losing 2-1 at Ewood Park, Harris handed the visitors a short-lived lead when he opened his body up to receive a chested-down pass from Matthew Phillips before unleashing a venomous first-time volley from more than thirty yards out, leaving Aynsley Pears helpless between the sticks en-route to finding the top-right corner of the goal.

His strike over the weekend will take some beating and it may well go down as one of the division’s goals of the season. It is certainly the finest Harris has scored throughout his career, which was marked by inconsistency at the Cardiff City Stadium before going into lift-off last year.

The five-cap Wales international is ascending to fresh heights by tallying such rich form in the Championship and that will only serve as a slither of frustration – while posing a series of much-needed questions – for Oxford’s divisional rivals in Cardiff.

Mark Harris’ Oxford United form will frustrate Cardiff City

Cardiff allowed Harris to leave on a free transfer just over twelve months ago now, and it goes without saying that they could not have possibly envisaged his success in Oxfordshire. It can be easy, and often biased towards recency, to undertake genuine revisionism over such scenarios and Cardiff’s decision to part ways with Harris was undoubtedly vindicated at the time.

He never managed to get going in the Championship for Cardiff and it speaks volumes that, still in August, he has already managed to match his record tally of league goals in a single campaign while with the Bluebirds. Few supporters opposed Harris’ release at the time, although his success does indeed prompt fresh questions as to why Cardiff could not get the best out of him.

That, unfortunately, has been a repeated fate for Cardiff in years gone by and Robert Glatzel, a former teammate of Harris’, is the most pertinent example, having failed to really make the grade at the club before plundering in 70 goals from 115 appearances for Hamburg.

Context is crucial and feelings of confusion, frustration and the overarching school of thought of “what could have been” are amplified in light of Cardiff’s current goalscoring woes.

Last season saw the Bluebirds score just 25 times from open play and rank 15th in the Championship for goals per match and 22nd for xG, with no striker registering more than three league goals. Despite renewed hope, optimism and financial backing towards Erol Bulut in the transfer market, they are yet to score after two league matches.

It is, of course, vitally important to note the responsibility upon Cardiff’s wide players and midfielders, as well as the manager’s own stylistic provisions, when it comes to assessing their failure to score goals on a regular basis. It is not as if Cardiff have strikers who pass up high-value chances each and every game without fail, but the reality remains that they are awfully light at the top-end of the pitch and desperately need a striker if they are to build upon last term’s 12th-placed finish and push towards play-off contention.

Isaak Davies was poised to lead the line this term following a productive 12-goal campaign on loan with sister club KV Kortijk in the Belgian Pro League but has been struck down by injury, a fate which has also befallen Kion Etete.

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Hertha Berlin loanee Wilfried Kanga appears to be bearing the burden for the time being but has encountered natural teething problems into the rigours of the Championship and will need ample time to adapt, if he can at all.

Meanwhile, Yakou Meite and Callum Robinson can play through the middle and the latter in particular is primed for a redemption season. However, Meite is better-served on the right-hand side and Robinson feels more comfortable playing off-the-shoulder or behind the striker as an attacking midfielder.

Cardiff should not forget about Michael Reindorf, who was only signed to the club’s academy from Norwich City over the summer but has exhibited extremely-impressive goalscoring exploits for Darren Purse’s under-21 side and produced a stunning debut display from the bench in their 2-0 EFL Cup victory over Bristol Rovers. Equally, Cardiff should not force too much responsibility on his youthful shoulders and despite the clear promise, continually leading the line is simply far too premature for the 19-year-old prospect.

Despite the tactical division among supporters, Bulut remains dedicated to deploying a patient – if not overly patient – possession-based formula, which automatically hands Cardiff an advantage by default given they dominate the ball over their opponents and provides a stark contrast to the direct style devoid of direction and impetus last year, but urgently requires additional pace and defence-stretching ability to bear fruit.

Harris has always represented such a profile, with his willingness to run the channels, press high out of possession and play on the shoulder to try and get in behind being visible at Cardiff and now more refined, and accompanied by what truly matters, at Oxford.

Do Cardiff have a crystal ball? Were Cardiff wrong for releasing Harris at the time? The answer to those two questions should not be lost in short memories and revisionism. By the same token, though, Harris’ redemption should cause frustration as he simply never showed this form with Cardiff, and they must now act quickly to solve their striking shortcomings and avoid further potential regret.