Good Day For Goodrham

There was a moment of history during the second half of the win at Crawley Town last night when Tyler Goodrham became Oxford United's youngest ever player

The 16-year-old winger broke Graham Atkinson's record and turned in a very assured performance, although he admitted to iFollow after the game that he had a few nerves before going on.

"Well obviously there are going to be nerves inside because I love doing what I do and want to do my best so I was going to be nervous about that" he said. "The nerves were in the five minute gap when I got told to go and warm up. That was when I thought ‘right this is happening. I am here'.

Tyler wasn't 100% sure if he was breaking that record when he went on:

"No, I had an idea but wasn’t sure" he said. "When I got on the bench earlier in the season I saw something on twitter about it but I wasn’t sure now a few weeks on but I didn't think I was breaking any records, no."

Tyler joined an incredible six futher products of the Oxford United Academy system on the pitch by the end: Jack Stevens, Sam Long, Nico Jones, Kevin Berkoe, Fabio Lopes, and Shandon Baptiste, with Fabio Sole, Aaron McCreadie and Kyran Lofthouse all on the bench as well. Tyler was quick to praise 17-year-old Nico, who also made history in the same game as United's youngest ever captain."

"I thought it was a good game and I thought we kept the ball well in good areas all night. There were seven of us out there, people I train with every day and every week alongside and that was great for me. Nico was captain and he was unreal today as a captain and a leader. It was a fantastic night for all of us and I do not think I will be sleeping tonight!".

Although Jimmy Smith and Tony Harper both made their debuts for Headington United aged just 14 (in 1938 and 1940), the youngest player, before Tyler, to play for the club since it turned professional in 1949 was Graham Atkinson, who holds the record as the all-time top scorer.

Graham was 16 years 108 days when he played against Chelmsford on 2nd September 1959.
Striker Jason Seacole holds the record for the youngest player in the Football League at 16 years, 149 days against Mansfield on 7th September 1976.

Oxford United’s all-time youngest players (1949 to present):