Oxford United’s Under 18s made it through to the Southern Area League Cup Final on Saturday with a dramatic penalty shoot out win away at Exeter City.
The young U’s have already enjoyed a fine FA Youth Cup run this season and made progress into the final thanks to an extraordinary 10-9 shoot-out win.
The game itself ended 3-3 with Owen James scoring twice and right-back Dan Carr scoring the other to force penalties where both sides missed just once. That left it down to the keepers to take the last ones. United’s Max Harris scored his before his Exeter counterpart hit the bar, meaning celebrations for United as they went through.
“It was a great performance” Leon Blackmore-Such told us. “Exeter have just won our league and have been in great form so when you factor in the journey down there then the odds were against us a little bit. But we fought for everything.
“We have spoken a lot this season about spirit and character and I think that’s what got us through in the end. Credit to all of the players. We defended well, we took our chances, and then it was a good test of nerves when it went to penalties.”
United now take on Luton Town at home in the Southern Area Final. The game will be played on Saturday 31st March 2018.
United
Harris, Carr, Berry-Hargreaves, Baker, Bryan, Hopkins, Heap, Cowan, Mannings (McCreadie 65), Lofthouse (Stevens 90), James
Northern Area Final
Wigan Athletic v Hartlepool United
Southern Area Final
Oxford United v Luton Town