Oxford United Women continued their post-season success with a 3-0 victory away at Wimbledon yesterday, thanks to goals from Brittany Jeal, Carly Johns and Georgia Brown.
Jeal struck first after impressive pressing in midfield paired with good combinations of passes on the edge of the box resulted in the midfielder slotting the ball away smartly from the right side across the goalkeeper.
Following the break the U’s doubled their advantage thanks to an excellent bicycle kick from Johns - Brogan Moore’s cross from the left side fell to United’s in-form forward, who made no mistake in acrobatically smashing the ball off the crossbar and into the net.
Brown made it 3-0 in the second half, dispossessing Wimbledon in midfield with an excellent tackle before taking on the home side’s defence and placing a shot past the goalkeeper from the edge of the box.
Manager Liam Gilbert reflected on United’s academy graduates who helped to secure the victory with their goals:
“Georgia Brown and Carly Johns have worked really hard since day one, and now we’re seeing the results of all their hard work. It’s a testament to all those who work within the RTC, that the pathway for these players is fantastic.”
Liam also provided opportunities to second-half substitutes Alex Ashley and Holly Selwood, two more graduates of The U’s RTC.
“Alex Ashley has been within the squad a few times now and I think that she’s learning and improving every time that she joins us,” he said.
"For Holly, her inclusion was well-deserved; she was the RTC’s player of the year and if it wasn’t for COVID this year I think that she would’ve played a few more games for the Development Team, but it was good to see how she got on in a different environment and she did herself proud.
“It’s always a good manner of game whenever we play Wimbledon. Their manager is a really good guy with a good group of staff and players there,so we know that whenever we play them that we’re going to get a good game.”
Now attention turns to next Sunday, when the U’s will face Nottingham Forest in front of fans at Court Place Farm for the last game of post-season.
“I can’t wait to have fans back; I know that the team are looking forward to it. It’s bank holiday weekend, hopefully the weather will be nice, and hopefully everyone will be joining us to see a really good game of football.
“We had a really good game against them in pre-season, and I know that they will be keen to come here and get a result. They’ve had some good wins in post-season lately, so it will be a nice way to finish our season against good quality opposition.”
Further details on the return of supporters to Court Place Farm next Sunday will be revealed very soon.
United v Wimbledon:
Sercombe, Baker, Mackenzie, Sims, Hayes, Haynes, Brown, Stevens, Jeal, Johns, Moore
Subs (all used): Kite, Wallace, McLachlan, Ashley, Selwood
Report by Jacob Gill, pictures by Darrell Fisher