EFL Sky Bet Championship
Saturday 9 August 2025
Kassam Stadium, Oxford
Oxford United… 0
Portsmouth… 1
(Segecic 38’)
Oxford United fell to defeat in the opening Championship game of the season, with Portsmouth winning 1-0 at the Kassam.
Adrian Segecic scored the only goal of the game with seven minutes to play in the first half after an uncharacteristic error from Cameron Brannagan to give the visitors all three points.
After three consecutive pre-season friendlies at home, as the players walked out for kick off it was a completely different feeling, with a sold out crowd and East Stand display filling the Kassam full of colour and noise. A 46-game season was set to begin all over again.
Two new signings were in the starting XI for Gary Rowett’s side, with Brodie Spencer and Will Lankshear in from the start for their official debuts. The on-loan Tottenham Hotspur striker was joined by Mark Harris in attack, and the pair almost linked up for an opening goal after 12 minutes, but the Welshman couldn’t find his partner in the box after a lovely flowing move.
Portsmouth and Oxford came up together, and last season they finished 16th and 17th respectively, so in theory, there was not much between the sides heading into this one. Every time Oxford threatened, so did the visitors, with Florian Bianchini missing a glorious chance on 21 minutes with his shot straight at Jamie Cumming from close range.
Will Vaulks was in from the start and with it the long throws were back for a new season. United almost got in front from one on the 25th minute, but Elliott Moore’s header and rebound was saved by Nicholas Schmidt.
Cameron Brannagan had the next best chance for the U’s with a rasping left-footed effort which was parried wide. But unfortunately, it was the midfielder’s mistake which led to Portsmouth opening the scoring. His back pass played Colby Bishop through on goal, but despite Cumming’s strong stop, Adrian Segecic followed up with a cool finish from the edge of the box.
In the second half it was down to United to find the equaliser, which Mills almost found from the narrowest of angles as he tried to catch the keeper off his front post inside the first five minutes.
The visitors continued to post a problem, with the goal scorer Segecic cutting inside against Moore and blasting a shot over the bar.
The ball was in the back of the Portsmouth net after 61 minutes with Will Lankshear scoring with his head, but the offside flag was raised to dampen the home crowd.
As the clock struck the 90th minute, the big moment fell for United to grab the equaliser. Jack Currie, on his debut, sent a curling shot towards the top right corner from 20 yards which looked to beat the keeper, but at the last second Schmidt got a fingertip to it and tipped over the bar.
Defeat on matchday one. Next up a Carabao Cup Round One tie against Colchester United on Tuesday, followed by a trip away to Hull City on Sunday.
Oxford United: Cumming, Spencer, Moore (Ter Avest 65’), Helik, Leigh (Currie 69’), Brannagan, Vaulks (Sibley 81’), Mills, Goodrham (O’Donkor 87’), M. Harris (Dembele 69’), Lankshear (Bradshaw 81’)
Subs Not Used: Ingram, Long, Phillips
Portsmouth: Schmidt, Williams, Ogilve, Poole, Shaughnessy, Swift (Swanson 86’), Bishop, Segecic (Waddingham 93’), Bianchini (Yang 65’), Dozzell, Lang (Devlin 80’)
Subs Not Used: Killip, Matthews, Le Roux, Bowat, Kosznovszky, Waddingham
Attendance: 11,492 (1,490 away)
50/50: 62727. Prize £1,395
