Pep Clotet takes charge of Oxford United at home for the first time tonight as the U’s welcome Brentford in a pre-season friendly.
Pep Clotet takes charge of Oxford United at home for the first time tonight as the U’s welcome Brentford in a pre-season friendly (7.45pm)
United’s new Spanish Manager has seen his side stay unbeaten in their first three friendlies, beating Oxford City before drawing with Middlesbrough and beating Hull City last week in Portugal. They now return to face two more Championship sides - Brentford this evening and then Birmingham City on Saturday.
The new look United side has been very impressive so far as players strive to be in the starting eleven for the first league game, away at Oldham on August 5th. Wes Thomas has scored three times already, confirming his return to fitness after an achilles injury while fellow striker Kane Hemmings and midfielder Joe Rothwell have also been on the scoresheet.
New signing Xemi Fernandez trained yesterday after joining from Barcelona but will have to wait and see if international clearance comes through in time for him to play in tonight’s game. However new faces Fiacre Kelleher, Scott Shearer, James Henry and Jon Obika should feature while Dutch international Dwight Tiandelli could play a part for the first time.
Youngsters Malachi Napa and Shandon Baptiste have done well since stepping up from the youth team and will be in the squad tonight.
Ticket News
Tickets are reduced for both home friendlies and available online from oufctickets.co.uk or from the ticket office this evening.
| Brentford | Birmingham City | ||
| Adults | £10 | £12 | |
| Over 65/Student/Young person/Under 18 | £5 | £7 | |
| Under 13 | £5 | £5 | |
| Under 7 | £1 | £1 | |
| 200 Club (Manor Lounge only) | |||
| Adult | £20 | £22 | |
| Over 65/Student/Young person/Under 18 | £15 | £17 | |
| Under 13 | £10 | £10 | |
The central blocks of the East Stand and South Upper are open to home fans tonight as well as the South Stand Lower East
Programme
Our award winning match programme is available again this evening in a reduced format, with 16 pages priced at £2. With Pep Clotet’s first notes as manager it will be a collectors’ item.
Coverage
Full match commentary will be available on BBC Oxford online, with video reaction from the key men in iFollow soon after the final whistle.
We will be trialling our new ‘Match Live’ blog tonight on the official site., and will have a report and gallery right here on the final whistle.