Oxford United Women ended their pre-season with a dominant 3-0 victory against Hashtag United Women this afternoon at Court Place Farm.
Leah Burridge opened the scoring on 33 minutes, and six minutes later Sarah King doubled the lead. In the 74th minute, Burridge made it three for the U’s and two for herself with a drilled finish from outside the area.
It was another scorching day in Oxfordshire, which perhaps contributed to the slow start from both teams.
United passed the ball around nicely for the first ten minutes but failed to create any memorable chances.
There must have been something in the water; after the short break for players to take on some liquids both sides had back-to-back chances through on goal. First, Rose Kite made a big save when she came out to meet Brooke Cairns, who had broken the line following a fantastically weighted ball from Sasha Pascale. Then, Carly Johns latched on to Lauren Haynes’ threaded pass, took one touch, and poked the ball under Bamford but just past the post.
Hashtag debuted their new pink away kit, and there may have been some pink faces to match just after the half-hour mark. The Tag’s left-back made a hash of defending King who beat her all ends up and won a free kick on the right-hand side of the box. Johns' delivery eventually fell to Burridge, who floated the ball delightfully over Bamford on the half volley to put Oxford in front. Some finish.
The U’s doubled their lead in the 39th minute. On the break from a Hashtag freekick, Johns cut inside and switched the ball excellently, right onto King’s toes. The winger took one touch to get in front of her defender and finished across the keeper, high into the left top corner. 2-0.
Hashtag United Women finished one point behind promoted Billericay Town, who United will face this season in the Southern Premier Division. They may have felt a little hard done by going into the half two down after excellent finishes from Burridge and King, as up until that point they were very much in the game.
The U’s switched the defence around at half-time as Jess Gray and Jaime Gotch replaced Billie French and Riva Casley. Both young defenders put in assured performances at the back.
It was a much more confident start to the second half as the team in yellow and blue dominated the ball and knocked it around with confidence. On 54 minutes Erin Hartigan, who recently stepped up from the development squad, replaced goal scorer King on the right.
There weren’t many clear-cut chances for either team in the second 45, but with 15 minutes left to play, Burridge got her second of the game. The ball fell to the midfielder on the edge of the box, and she drilled the ball low into the bottom left corner. 3-0 Oxford and game over.
Gilmore, Prescott, Wynne and Joslyn also got on to the pitch, replacing Johns, Burridge, Haynes and Baker.
In the end, it was a comfortable victory in the sunshine for the Yellows. Hashtag United can certainly be proud of their performance but two moments of real quality gave Oxford the lead, and from that point, they always looked like winning the game.
Now we look ahead to Bridgwater United at Court Place Farm next Sunday, the 21st of August for the first game in the Southern Premier Division season. We look forward to seeing the Yellow Army try to help us start the season with a win.
UNITED
KITE, FRENCH (GRAY, 45’), BEAVER, CASLEY (GOTCH, 45’), STEVENS, HAYNES (WYNNE, 84’, COLE, BURRIDGE (GILMORE, 90’), JOHNS (PRESCOTT, 90’), BAKER (JOSLYN, 84’, KING (HARTIGAN, 54’)
Report by Billy Lawrence, pictures Darrell Fisher