Oxford United’s under 18s warmed up for their FA Youth Cup game against Barnet this week with a convincing 5-0 win away at Forest Green Rovers in the EFL Youth Alliance on Saturday.
The U’s, who top the table, were 2-0 up at the break thanks to goals from striker Jordan Edwards and Owen James, and then scored three in the second half through Harry Sampford, Fabio Lopes and Aaron McCreadie.
Coach Leon Blackmore-Such told us:
“We had a balancing act because the Under 23s have an important game on Monday where two or three of our players are involved, and then we also have the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday. So we made a couple of changes and Jordan Edwards came in and scored and then Harry Sampford scored from right wing back so that was great for us.
“But there were plenty of positives. Owen scored a really good goal, coming on off the wing and beating three players before slotting home. Fabio has been out injured for a while and will need to be managed properly as he gets back to full fitness, but scored after good play from Kyran Lofthouse, and then Aaron McCreadie came off the bench and scored with a header from good work by Ryan Crooks.
“So five goals but also a clean sheet and Freddie Niblett, Nico Jones and Viktor Milton have been doing really well for us at the back so a decent all round performance and some very pleasing things for us to see.
“Now we move on to Barnet. We played them in pre-season so we know a little bit about what to expect. The winners play Burnley in the next round so there is a decent prize for whoever gets through and we will be giving it a really good go. It’s at Oxford City so if fans want to come along and get behind the lads then that would be great.”
Come and support the youngsters on Wednesday. Kick off is at 7.30pm on Wednesday evening at Court Place Farm.