It was an incredible night under the lights at the Kassam Stadium as the young U’s cruised to a first ever Quarter Final for the club, beating Leeds United 3-0.
Enrique Tiamuna opened the scoring in the 20th minute, taking advantage of a keeper error and firing home on the turn, before Gatlin O’Donkor’s strength and skill gave United a two-goal lead going into the break.
The U’s didn’t stop there. O’Donkor doubled his tally for the day two minutes after the break, converting an Aidan Elliott-Wheeler corner to round off an exceptional performance from the boys, who in all honesty could’ve made it more.
Now, the U19s face one of the best sides in the world in Manchester City. The Quarter Final tie has to be played before the 4th of March.
Coach Pablo Haysham said
“The work rate the boys put in was fantastic and they’ll be really happy with what they’ve done and we are delighted with them. There were lots of good performances in there from the boys, the work rate that was required, we knew would be high, but they do it week in week out.
“We defended well. Hacks does a lot of work with the boys and they take it on really well. We defended the box well, cleared well and our defensive work was key.
“The boys understand what a talisman Gats is and he’s had a great year in many respects. Ultimately, the boys know what he brings and if they support him and demand from him he can deliver and he did that.
“It’s everyone though, people like Zaide who covered so much ground and the two centre halfs George and Erion who were superb, you can’t put your finger on one player.”
Captain George Franklin was beaming with pride at the full time whistle
“The experience we had was unbelievable, but throughout the 90 minutes I couldn’t be prouder of the boys. We showed our quality tonight, we weren’t phased one bit by a Cat One team, and that’s because we know the quality we have in this team.
“The result comes first but it was the cherry on top to get the first clean sheet in the tournament. The eleven players on the pitch all defended excellently".
Winger and Oxford fan Aidan Elliott-Wheeler told us
“Having fans here really makes the difference. You’re almost proving to them that we’re not just young kids here to make up the numbers, we’re here to try and make our way into the first team, and with such a positive performance I think they can see that.
“We said before the game we are socially all in, physically in and we all try to do what’s best for the team. We’re buzzing for City now, as I said before, on our day we can beat anybody. We know they’ll obviously be a challenge but we always look forward to those games.
The U’s are straight back into Youth Alliance League action as they travel to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.