Oxford United's under 18s safely made it through to the second round of the FA Youth Cup this afternoon with a 3-1 win over Torquay United at Court Place Farm.
A spectacular opening goal from left-back Richard Gerrard was followed by strikes from striker Kasway Burton and impressive winger Aidan Elliott-Wheeler before the break, and although Torquay fought hard and pulled a goal back in the second half, the U's were always in control.
United started on the front foot, with Elliott-Wheeler a constant threat down the left flank and Enrique Tiamuna cleverly joining the attack to run beyond striker Josh Iheanacho whenever the chance arose.
Home keeper Fraser Barnsley made the first save of the game, plunging to his right to parry a close-range header from Mason Elliott after 24 minutes, but early Riviera optimism was soon squashed as United scored two quickly to open up a two goal lead.
First, left-back Gerrard let fly from 25 yards and for once a chip evaded a low-flying Gull as keeper Lloyd Marshall was beaten for the opening goal. A superb strike and a deserved lead for the U’s, swiftly followed by a corner that centre-half Erion Zabeli headed goalwards and under-16s winger Burton flicked home.
Torquay had little to lose now so the game opened up and challenges started to fly in as it became a proper old-fashioned cup tie.
United remained largely in control though, and with a minute to go before the break Elliott-Wheeler made it 3-0 when midfielder Tobias Brenan, excellent all game, won the ball in the centre circle, ran clear onto a Josh Iheanacho flick and squared the ball for the winger to slot home to make it 3-0 at the break.
Credit to Torquay who refused to give the game up even at three goals down and deserved their goal when George Collins looped a header over the flailing Barnsley to make the final 15 minutes more interesting than coaches Chris Hackett and Pablo Haysham would have liked.
Sub Jacob Fowler almost opened his account for the club with a header into the side netting as the U's pressed for a fourth goal, Brenan rolled a loose ball into the side netting with the keeper wandering and Elliott-Wheeler forced one final save, but it mattered little by that stage.
A job well done and the U's now go on to face Horndean at home in the second round. We'll have full details once the date and time are set.
UNITED
Barnsley, Sankoh, Franklin ©, Zabeli, Gerrard (Maxwell 86), Took-Oxley, Brenan, Tiamuna, Burton, Elliott-Wheeler, Iheanacho (Fowler 62)
Subs
Mole, Lacey, Clark
Att: 194
Report by Chris Williams, pictures Steve Edmunds