Oxford United Under 18s drew 2-2 at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday thanks to goals from Will Owens and Adam Smith.

Coach Chris Hackett told us:

“Away at Wimbledon is always a tough game and we had a young group with us so we knew it would be a good test for them physically. The boys got their mindset right and dominated the first part of the game and should have been ahead because both Tyler Goodrham and Adam Smith had chances, even if they were both very bright in the game.

“Having not taken those chances we then fell behind to a set piece, so that is part of the learning curve for the boys. You have to get the basics right and we didn’t for that goal but we came back well and Will Owens, who is starting to show some of the form he showed before he got injured around Christmas time, scored a good goal cutting in from the left and scoring with his right foot.

“That made it 1-1 and then a similar story happened in the second half. We were in control and then one quick counter attack found us 2-1 down.

“Credit to the boys who didn’t get too down about that and kept trying to do the right things. They deserved the equaliser through Adam who scored a fantastic goal, cutting in and scoring with his right foot.

“We probably had enough chances to win it after that but all in all it was a good game and we looked at a few of the under 16s and a couple of trialists so we can be pleased with the performance over all.”

United
Brearey, Watt, Sankoh, Fraklin, Nosakhare, Golding, Smith, Gardner, Crook, Goodrham, Owens

Subs: Tiamuna, J.Johnson, Zabeli, Davis-Stephenson, Barnsley