Oxford United’s under 18s suffered a defeat in their opening fixture in Merit League 1 on Saturday when they let an early lead slip when losing away at Northampton Town.
United led in the third minute when Owen James headed home from close range after good work from Jack Stevens and Leon Chambers-Parillon. Keeper Max Evans then saved a penalty to keep his side in front but three goals after the break from the Cobblers meant that United have lessons to learn, according to Coach Leon-Blackmore-Such who told us
“It is a tough league this time and we do have to stand up to a number of different challenges. We took the lead and did OK but need to be able to cope with the physical side when teams are that little bit stronger.
"We did that for much of the game but there are always things to learn and now we go again this week where we will be helping the Under 23 team prepare for their game at Wolves on Friday night. A number of our boys will be involved in that so we will help Chrissy Allen get ready for that challenge
“I’d also like to congratulate Nico Jones on his first senior call up. He has been excellent for us on the left side of defence this season and was deservedly on the bench for the first team against Peterborough which will be great experience and I am sure there will be many more opportunities for him.”
United
Evans, Lofthouse, Sampford, Niblett, Elechi, McCreadie, Stevens (Trialist), Chambers-Parillon (Spasov (Goodrham)), Crooks, Lopes, James