Oxford United’s Development side enjoyed an excellent 1-1 draw against Premier League side West Bromwich Albion’s under 23 side this afternoon.
Fielding a side with three senior players, four youngsters who have been offered a pro deal, and four trialists, United took the lead in the very first minute when Albie Hopkins, top scorer in the youth team this season, picked up a rebound after one of the trialists had forced the West Brom keeper in to a smart save. Hopkins showed good composure to fire the ball into the top corner to give United a 1-0 lead inside 60 seconds.
United created more chances but were pegged back when West Brom took advantage of a sloppy back pass to level things, but Chris Allen was pleased with his young side:
“Ir was another really good experience for some of the youngsters and we had the chance to look at the trialists with next season in mind a little bit. Obviously scoring in the first minute is a bonus but we did start very brightly and I think the lads should be really pleased with how they played over the entire 90 minutes.”
United
Clayton, Trialist, Long, Trialist, Berry-Hargreaves, Trialist, Ashby, Carroll, Hopkins, Noel-Williams, Trialist.