PREVIEW Swindon Town U18 v Oxford United U18

Youth team get set to start new season

19 August 2022

Oxford United's Under 18s make a belated start to their season when they make the short trip to Swindon on Saturday morning.

The U's kick off two weeks late due to a cultural visit to Italy that saw them go unbeaten in three games as well as learning Italian and visiting places like the San Siro.

"That was a fantastic experience" Coach Pablo Haysham told us "and those games were great preparation for our season in the EFL Youth Alliance.

"Now we start the real competitive matches and we can't wait. What better way to start than against Swindon? The lads know what it means when the clubs meet and we have worked hard this week. We will be ready".

The only player missing is winger Amari Davis-Stephenson who will be sidelined for several months with a knee injury.

"It's gutting for Amari" Pablo told us. "He had come back looking so sharp and then got the injury early in pre-season. He came to Italy and was part of the group and we will look after him and make sure he comes back in good shape again."

Match Previews

Match Reports

REPORT Swindon Town U19 0 Oxford United U19 3

Young U's start with a win

22 August 2022

Oxford United’s under 19s kicked off their EFL Youth Alliance season with an excellent 3-0 win at Swindon Town on Saturday.

Young striker Gatlin O’Donkor celebrated his return from injury with two goals while defender George Franklin opened his account to give the U’s an excellent win as coach Pablo Haysham told us

“It was frantic at the start, as you would want from a derby game and especially because it was our first match.

“But once it settled down we played very well.

"Gatlin got the first goal from the penalty spot and from then on we played some really good stuff. Fraser Barnsley had to make a couple of saves- one double save was really excellent but we got another couple of goals, George from a corner and then a header from Gatlin and we were good value for the three points.”

UNITED
Barnsley, Sankoh, Zabeli, Franklin (Smith), Gerrard (Maxwell), Took-Oxley, Johnson, Tiamuna, Elliott-Wheeler, O’Donkor (Iheanocho), Bradney (Brenan)