United warmed up for their FA Youth Cup second round tie against Rovers with a good win on Saturday against the same opponents.
Saturday 11th November
Oxford United 4
(Crooks, Hopkins, Mannings, Bryan)
Bristol Rovers 0
Leon Blackmore- Such told us:
“We made a couple of changes but not particularly with the cup game in mind, and the attitude was good. The first goal came through Ryan Crooks after some good build-up play; he took the ball round a defender and scored left-footed to make it 1-0. We had a lot of the ball, got into good areas and the second goal was a pattern we have been working on. Rex Mannings moved the ball to Albie Hopkins who switched it on to his right foot and it was 2-0.
"In between those goals Dan Carr hit the post and we had several set pieces; Owen James and Aaron Heap had good efforts blocked and it was a really positive first half. I mentioned to the boys at the break that in recent weeks I had felt that sometimes we haven’t grown and got better in the second half of games, so that was the message and it must have got through because in the 46th minute we scored and made it 3-0. Owen slipped Rex Mannings in and he slotted past the keeper to make it three.
"That sort of killed off the game and at times I think we just got a little sloppy after that, so we have things to work on from the game. Max Evans made a couple of good saves but we looked good on the counter and that was where the fourth goal came from. Max caught it and sent it long and Graham Bryan got on the end of it and made it 4-0. To be fair to Bristol, they were very complimentary about the way we played, and the boys have been playing very well so hopefully that continues into Wednesday."
United: Evans, Carr, Baker, Berry-Hargreaves, Heap (Cowan 62), Hopkins, Mannings (Stevens 75), Bryan, Crooks (Chilcott 80), McCreadie, James (Spasov 75)