Oxford United’s Under 19 side continued their excellent pre-season with a 2-1 win at home to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday morning.
Trailing 1-0 to the Premier League side the young U’s hit back through goals from Elijah Coe and Will Owens to claim a confidence boosting win.
“It was a good week” coach Darren Purse told us. “A lot of our older lads were with the First Team last week and it was good to see Clinton Nosokhare and Josh Johnson involved at Bristol Rovers. We gave our under 16s a chance last week and they did well in a draw at Villa, then won 5-4 in a really good game against Woking in midweek.
“We were able to go with a slightly more experienced side against Brighton and it was good to have Slavi Spasov involved to give him game time after injury. All the lads did well and we showed a bit of strength to come back after conceding the first goal.
“Elijah, another player coming back from injury, got us back in to the game at 1-1 then Will won it with a cross shot But credit to all of the lads really for an encouraging performance.
“Now we move on to a game at Thame United on Tuesday night where we we field an under 21 side: Slavi will play and probably Leon Chambers-Parillon as well after his ankle injury. That will be a good game and then, like the First Team, we are on to the league season.”
United
Brearey, Watt, Trialist (Owens) Masters, Franklin, Zabeli, Smith, Tiamuna, Spasov, Coe, O’Donkor
Oxford United's Under 21 play Thame United at the ASM Stadium on Tuesday night. Kick off is at 7.30pm. Full preview to follow