Plymouth Argyle 4 Oxford United 2
Oxford United’s Under 18 team lost 4-2 at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday. 3-0 down after 25 minutes, the U’s hit back through two goals from George Jeacock but made the long journey home defeated after a late Plymouth goal.
Andy Whing told us:
“We left at 5.45am for a game at Newton Abbot but the journey is no excuse for the way we started the game. We had a decent warm up and the last advice we gave them was to start well and make sure that it wasn’t one of the ‘you score we score’ games that we have been having recently. And within six minutes we were 2--0 down!
“Not enough players were winning their battles and we were 3-0 down after 15 minutes and really up against it.
“We then started to get into the game and by 25 minutes it was 3-2 thanks to two goals from George Jeacock who is a clever player who can spin in behind defences and got us back into the game. At 3-0 it was looking like a long day but coming in at the break 3-2 down we had the momentum and had started to settle much more.
“The second half was a bit scrappy and we didn’t get that same rhythm back but we were very much still in it and Jordan Graham almost equalised with a shot that hit the bar from 25 yards. Unfortunately we then had Kiearn Diaz-Benitez and Seth Humphries injured after an unfortunate clash and had to make two changes in the same minute which broke things up a little.
“We were still chasing the game but a decision went against us for a free kick on the edge of the box and they whipped the ball in and scored from a free kick to make it 4-2.
“We had paid for that first 15 minutes and we have to learn to start right and be ready, not leave it all on the bus before we kick off.“
United
Agboola, Welch-Hayes, Ricketts, McCormack, Diaz-Benitez (Hartley), Humphries (Hastings), Hayden, Napa (James), Baptiste, Graham, Jeacock