Oxford United’s Youth Team were held to a 0-0 draw away at Cheltenham in the EFL Youth Alliance this morning.

A young Oxford team came away with a point after a tough game away from home, with both teams battling hard but lacking quality in the final third. Cheltenham came forward a handful of times in the game, but due a stand out performance from James Golding and the back four these were quickly extinguished.

Eddie Brearey, back from injury, put in a solid performance to keep the clean sheet and keep the U’s in the game. Amari Davis-Stephenson had a good performance, doing what he could to help the U’s going forward, but unfortunately to no avail.

Coach Darren Purse told us “We defended well to keep the clean sheet, but need to be sharper and take the chances we are given. We perhaps deserved to win the game, but just couldn’t provide the finishing touch”.

The U’s youth team travel to Reading City for their next game in the FA  Youth Cup on Friday.

“We have to match them for energy”, Darren said “If we match their energy, hopefully our work rate will show and we can make it a great game of football. It is a huge occasion for the players, they understand its importance and making it through that stage will lead the team to maybe play both Championship and Premier League sides, but we need to take each game as it comes and focus now on Reading.”

The U’s currently sit in third in the table, with a game in hand on both teams above them.

Line-Up:

Brearey, Maxwell (Gerrard), Sankoh, Golding, Zabeli, Johnson, Tiamuna, Coe, Davis-Stephenson, Elliott-Wheeler (Griffith), O’Donkor

Subs:

Barnsley, Giles, Gurung

Report by Tom Smyth