EFL Sky Bet League One
Saturday 19 September 2026
Kassam Stadium, Oxford
Oxford United… 1
(Dembele 15’)
Cambridge United… 1
(Knight 57’)
Oxford United were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Cambridge United in the final game before the international break.
Siriki Dembele opened the scoring with his second goal of the season in the first half, but an equaliser for the visitors in the second period saw the points shared. Despite pushing until the end, Oxford couldn't find a winner to secure a third straight victory.
After two emphatic wins in their last two outings, scoring seven goals and conceding none, Aaron Ramsey welcomed a Cambridge United side who were promoted to League One in May and had started the day above Oxford in the table.
There was one change from the win over Burton Albion last weekend, with Jack Currie coming in at left-back for Brodie Spencer. The Head Coach did, however, have to make an early change after just 10 minutes, with Jamie McDonnell leaving the pitch through injury and being replaced by last weekend's second goalscorer, Louie Sibley.
The man who opened the scoring against Burton last Saturday did so again this afternoon. After just 15 minutes, Siriki Dembele curled home a stunning goal to give United the lead. The U's won the ball back inside the Cambridge box through their high press, and after a penalty shout involving Mark Harris, the ball fell to the Scotland winger, who curled it into the top right corner.
Oxford United played with real flair and maturity in the first period, much of it coming from Dembele. The ball seemed to gravitate towards the left wing on every attack, and each time it did, Dembele got the better of his marker.
The next big chance came on 34 minutes, when Dembele again beat his full-back and sent a low ball into the box that eventually fell to Sibley, who cannoned a shot goalwards that was deflected wide. A few minutes later, Mark Harris had his first shot on goal, again from a ball coming in from the left, this time from Currie, and the Welsh striker hit a first-time effort which the Cambridge goalkeeper had to get down low to keep out of the bottom-left corner.
Straight into the second half, it was Dembele again causing Cambridge all sorts of problems. Within the first five minutes he had got his full-back booked, then beaten him down the line to set up a chance for Harris, who backheeled the ball past the keeper only for a defender to clear it off the line.
United couldn't make the chance count, and they were punished five minutes later. Peter Kioso threw his body on the line to stop an initial effort, but after Cambridge recycled the ball well, they found Ben Knight in space 12 yards out, and he fired into the bottom-right corner.
It was end-to-end after the equaliser, with both teams sensing an opportunity to grab the three points. Ramsey turned to his bench, and one of those changes, Tyler Goodrham, forced the Cambridge keeper into a great save on 75 minutes, keeping out his 25-yard strike. Goodrham went close again five minutes later, thinking he'd given United the lead once more after superb play down the left ended with a whipped-in cross that Goodrham got his head on, only for Eastwood to produce a stunning save.
Despite the pressure, United couldn't find a winning goal to take all three points. Heading into the international break with just one defeat and three wins, it's a positive start to the season.
Oxford United: Eastwood, Brown, Andrews (O’Donkor 57’), Helik, Brannagan, Harris (Goodrham 70’), Currie, McDonnell (Sibley 10’), Dembele, Kioso (Spencer 70’), Missanga (Lynch 57’)
Subs: Cumming, Long
Cambridge United: Eastwood, Perry, Ball, Watts, Moxon, Knight, Kaikai, Ahadme, Heffernan, Mpanzu, Curtis
Subs: Breeze, Heath, Appere, Lavery, Bradshaw, Herd, Bangura-Williams
Attendance: 10,474 (888 away)
50/50: 136080 / £1,024.50
