Oxford United were beaten by two Karlan Grant goals and an own goal this evening as West Bromwich Albion won 3-0 at the Kassam Stadium.
Grant's two second-half goals and a Yoav Sade own goal with four minutes left were enough to settle things and were probably fair enough as a scoreline, but The U's had worked hard and matched their higher-division opposition for much of the 90 minutes in their penultimate pre-season friendly.
The U’s, giving a second outing to their splendid new home kit, gave trialists Jerome Sinclair and Jodi Jones a further chance to impress and both worked hard on the hottest day in living memory; a brief shower of rain at kick-off failed to lift the oppressive heat.
That had an effect on a sluggish first half where both sides worked hard to keep the ball but rarely threatened to break the deadlock. James Henry whistled a free kick wide after 22 minutes, Jones wiggled into a decent position after half an hour but couldn’t pick out his man, but neither keeper was truly tested before the break.
Credit to the defence and to John Mousinho for the way he marshalled the men around him, while Marcus McGuane was a model of discipline in protecting the back line in his holding role.
The second half continued in a keep-ball fashion; plenty of pass and move and United matching a side expected to challenge for promotion from the Championship, but a glut of changes made it hard to keep the shape and discipline and gradually the visitors started to gain territory.
There were a couple of warnings, with efforts blocked or flying wide, but then with 20 minutes to go Grant stole in behind the trailing defence to fire past the startled Stevens and give Steve Bruce's side a 1-0 lead. With time running out, Grant doubled his tally with a close-range header to make it 2-0 and ensure the Baggies has their win.
Sub Marcus Browne added a threat, Mousinho's header forced a save, and United finished with a very young side, although Sade will want to forget his first touch, when he tried manfully to keep the ball away from danger but only managed to bundle it into his own goal to make it 3-0.
Our thanks to everyone who bought a ticket, and to West Brom who kindly donated their share of the gate money to the Joey Beauchamp Trust.
United now move on to one last warm-up game when they travel to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
United
Stevens, Forde (Sade 80), Mousinho, Brown, Seddon (Golding 46), Henry (Browne 46), McGuane (Johnson 80), Smyth (Brannagan 46), Sinclair (Taylor 46), Bodin (Davis 75), Jones (Goodrham 68)
Att 2,422
Away 639
Report Chris Williams; photos Steve Daniels and Steve Edmunds