Oxford United’s Under 18s put in an excellent performance to beat leaders AFC Bournemouth in the Youth Alliance this morning.
Goals from Enrique Tiamuna and Gatlin O’Donkor gave the U’s a 2-1 win at the Bangkok Glass Training Centre and opened up the title race in the South West Division.
In a game played in difficult conditions a strong wind made it hard for both teams. The first chance of the game came to Bournemouth after some nice build up play led to a shot from the edge of the box which was blazed just over the bar but never really troubled Fraser Barnsley in goal.
The wind almost helped Will Owens with an in-swinging corner which forced a save from the Bournemouth keeper but the visitors struggled to cope with United’s corners and it was little surprise with almost the last kick of the first half, the deadlock was broken when Tiamuna headed in from an Owens corner to give United a 1-0 lead at half time.
The leaders levelled with strike from the edge of the box which was well-placed into the bottom left corner out of Barnsley’s reach to level the game after 70 minutes.
However United bounced back and when full back Ibrahim Sankoh was tripped in the box O’Donkor calmly sent the keeper the wrong way and slotted it into the bottom right to give the U’s an excellent win.
Line-Up:
Barnsley, Sankoh, Nasakhare, Zabeli, Franklin, Johnson, Anifowose, Tiamuna, Owens, Amari-Stephenson (Coe), O’Donkor