U's already focussed on league after cup progress
Oxford United eased through to the second round of the Emirates FA Cup with a 3-1 win over Braintree Town at the Kassam Stadium last night. Goals from Liam Sercombe and two from Patrick Hoban earned the U’s a home tie against Forest Green Rovers in the next round and Head Coach Michael Appleton was quick to praise both sides for a good cup game played in high winds.
“It was a good win. I thought both teams did well considering the conditions, and Braintree have pushed us hard over the two games”.
“I felt we were trying one ball to switch play rather than two or three or four. Normally we’d want to do that but because of the conditions it was impossible. I didn’t think the players picked up on that early enough and we spoke about that at half time and did that a bit better in the second half, and counter attacked a bit better. We created a lot of chances in the second half and ultimately got the win I thought we deserved.”
Hoban’s two goals, the second from the penalty spot, made it three goals in two games for the Irish striker, and that gives Michael plenty of food for thought up front for Saturday’s game at Dagenham.
“It’s great for Pat’s confidence” he said. “Ryan Taylor and Danny Hylton have been done really well up front and Kemar has played up there with him tonight and made his goal for him so we have good competition and a lot of quality up there, and we are going to need them all over the coming weeks.”
With games coming thick and fast United now return to league action at Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday, with little time to reflect on a job well done against Braintree.
“It was a professional job and we’re looking forward to the next round but to be honest we’ve put the cup to bed straight away and all we are thinking about now is the league game at Dagenham on Saturday” Michael said.
See the full interview plus a great interview with Pat Hoban in Yellow Player HD right now.