PREVIEW Walsall v Oxford United

Young guns get a slice of the action in the Papa John's Trophy

10 November 2020

Oxford United's youngsters get a slice of the action tonight as the U's head for Walsall in the Papa John's Trophy.

TEAM NEWS
United include five of their youngsters in the squad. Midfielder Josh Anifowose is an exciting midfielder who arrived this summer and is a first year scholar alongside goalkeeper Eddie Brearey who will act as cover for Jack Stevens tonight. They join under 21 team defenders Michael Elechi and Nico Jones in the squad plus midfielder Leon Chamber-Parillon who stands by for his first senior apperance.

Oxford boy Jordan Obita is included for the first time after signing yesterday while striker Sam Winnall could make his first start for the club after joining in the summer

See Karl Robinson previewing the game in iFollow right now where also have exclusive pre-match chats with Jack Stevens and new boy Jordan Obita.

THE OPPOSITION
Walsall boss Darrell Clarke saw his side go out of the FA Cup to Bristol Rovers at the weekend but believes his side can take heart from their performance.

“I’m going to take confidence from the performance,” he said.“We’ve run a mid-table League One team close and probably had more territory, advantage, possession and shots on target. I take the positives from that with a lot of key players missing.

"I think we can gain massive confidence from a lot of the performances this season, I really do. There's not a lot in League One and League Two. The top seven of League One are a little bit ahead but the rest of that is pretty even. We'll keep focused, working hard, and the boys are certainly putting plenty of effort in.

"If we can raise the quality and finishing at the top end, we'll win a lot more games.”

The Gaffer

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You can see the whole game LIVE in iFollow where our friends at BBC Oxford Sport will add their commentary to a full live stream of the match.

It costs £10 to watch and is available HERE

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COVERAGE
We have coverage on the official Twitter and Instagram pages with a report and Gallery right here on the official website and Facebook on the final whistle with video reaction plus highlights to follow on iFollow and You Tube.

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REPORT Walsall 0 Oxford United 1

U's go through in the Papa John's Trophy

10 November 2020

Oxford United safely booked their place in the knockout stages of the Papa John's Trophy, topping their group after a 1-0 win at Walsall tonight in their final group game. Derick Osei Yaw's magnificent goal lit up a closely contested 90 minutes and sent the U's through to the second round with two wins and a draw from their three games.

United started from a solid base, seeing shots from Rob Hall and Joel Cooper go close and forcing the first save of the night from home keeper Jack Rose when Sam Winnall slapped a shot against his gloves from eight yards out on ten minutes.

James Henry was the key man, spraying the ball around and linking play almost from a quarterback position in front of a defence which saw both Nico Jones and Michael Elechi given a chance to impress - a chance they both took.

Debutant Jordan Obita showed plenty of composure on the left wing in the first half before making way, matched by an energetic performance from Cooper on the other flank, while Winnall linked everything together up front; in an echoing stadium, it was Winnall's and centre-half John Mousinho’s voices that you could hear all night, ordering and demanding delivery from those around them at either end of the pitch.

The home side went close when Caolan Lavery sliced an effort against the bar after half an hour, but Winnall also went just as close on 39 when he slid a Sam Long cross at goal with real venom but found Rose up to the task with an excellent close-range save.

Long made two excellent blocks to keep it even in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as the two sides continued to cancel each other out; other than a powerful drive from the hard-working Hall and then a curling effort from the same player, neither side truly threatened to break the stalemate.

United have had a great record in this competition for the last three or four seasons and that continued with three minutes left when French striker Derick Osei Yaw added some gallic-bred flair to the Papa John's proceedings with the winner.

Freed by a nice pass from impressive debutant Leon Chambers-Parillon, Osei-Yaw looked up, took aim and the ball was past the flying Rose in a flash. A terrific goal and United safely through from the group undefeated.

A good night's work and a fine goal to decide it.

Report by Chris Williams pictures by Darrell Fisher, stats by OPTA