It was a busy day for everyone at Oxford United yesterday with the First Team, Academy and Women’s teams all out on the training pitches.

Karl Robinson’s staff were first in at 7.30am to prepare for the return of the squad for testing in small groups. While that continued throughout the morning the scholars were back for their first full day of training on the neighbouring pitches, with the younger age groups such as the under 16s arriving later that afternoon after school had finished.

Karl and Head of Performance Chris Neville had a long day, staying late to meet Women’s Manager Liam Gilbert and discuss a ‘one club’ approach to sports science, with the pair then spending the evening watching the Academy and Liam’s squad on the training pitches

The Women’s squad reported back in good shape with a number of trialists, some aiming for places in the senior squad, some aiming for the Development side which feeds into it.

Liam Gilbert said

“It’s great to be out there at the Training Ground and back together and training again. To see the Gaffer and Chris taking a huge interest was fantastic. The players looked fit and sharp and, like all the teams throughout the club, we’re going to work extremely hard to be ready and to make sure we have a successful season.”