Oxford United’s Under 18s put in another impressive performance on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Exeter City at the Bangkok Glass Training Centre.
Gatlin O’Donkor was the star with four goals, with under-16s striker Kasway Burton also on the scoresheet.
O’Donkor opened the scoring after 27 minutes when he turned to fire home a bouncing ball after a long throw from the right. He then doubled the lead two minutes after the break when an Exeter defender misjudged a clearance from keeper Monty Marriott, allowing O’Donkor to race in behind and finish calmly to make it 2-0.
Burton then made it 3-0 with a low drive into the corner of the net, before a 63rd-minute penalty gave the Grecians hope at 3-1.
However, O’Donkor ended that when he completed his hat-trick from close range after good work from Aidan Elliott-Wheeler on the right, and then scored his fourth from the edge of the area to make it 5-1.
Coach Chris Hackett told us:
“Gatlin will be the one that everyone talks about, but this was an excellent team performance. Gatlin took his goals really well and has been in great form for us all season but we made plenty more chances and we were good in all areas.
“Exeter always produce good young players, so we knew it would be a hard game but the lads worked so hard and the attitude and team work were spot on.”
United: Marriott, Sankoh, Zabeli (Bradney), Smith, Maxwell, Took-Oxley, Johnson, Elliott-Wheeler, Burton (Brenan), Tiamuna, O’Donkor