Oxford United Under 18s travel to Portsmouth this Saturday in their second Merit League game of the season (11am).
The U’s kicked off their campaign with a 2-0 defeat against Stevenage last weekend but will look to make amends against a Pompey side they beat 3-0 in the Youth Alliance league three weeks ago.
Both sides subsequently qualified for the Merit League by finishing in the top five.
“It will be a good game" Coach Pablo Haysham told us. “Obviously the two sides know plenty about each other from the Alliance League but things change for the second half of the season and some clubs try to get lads out on loan, as we have done, others stick with a slightly older age group. It means that every game is a new challenge but that’s all part of the learning process for the players.”