A Leo Snowden first half brace against Derby County gave the Under-21s a winning start to competitive football and their 2025/26 league campaign with a 2-1 victory.
After a successful pre-season, United took to the field for a new era at the Club, with the Under-21s taking part in a league fixture for the first time. There was a boost to the squad with the inclusion of four first team players; Nik Prelec led the line with academy graduate Gatlin O’Donkor, Joshua Johnson started in the midfield and Simon Eastwood brought his experience in net.
The visitors themselves brought down some notable names with former Liverpool man Rihan Brewster in the ten, Booby Clark on the wing and Ben Osborn and Dajuane Brown in the starting eleven.
It took just 17 minutes for Leo Snowden to open his account for the season. After missing a free kick in a similar position earlier on, he got a second opportunity, and this time made no mistake finding the back of the net to get the season’s first in style.
Unfortunately, the dream start for United was brought back down to reality with Joshua Johnson limping off in the first twenty minutes, bringing a dampener to the bright start.
Leo made sure that didn’t last long, grabbing his second in five minutes. A partnership which has looked incredibly dangerous for Oxford produced another goal to make it 2-0. Gats split the defence with a well weighted pass to put Leo through who had no trouble in beating the keeper and doubling the lead.
United pushed for a third and were rewarded for their constant pressure with a sending off for the Rams. Prelec was brought down in a dangerous break and left the ref with no choice but to hand the derby defender his second yellow, leaving them with ten men heading into the half.
Three changes were made at the break, with Gats, Prelec and Josh Holton all making way, taking the steam out of the game and allowing Derby to get a couple of good spells on the ball.
The Rams got back in it just five minutes into the second half. A well taken goal for Jerome Richards made it 2-1 and Derby had a spring in their step.
Both sides searched long and hard for the fourth goal of the clash, with the next becoming increasingly important in the context. Both sides came close to the all-important goal, however neither side could produce the quality needed in the final third and meant United took all three points to kick start their season.
United: Eastwood, Elliott-Wheeler, Trialist, Mole, Lacey, Johnson (Holton 20, Appiah 45), Griffiths, Bradney (Collins 62), Prelec (Abolade 45), O’Donkor (Burton 45), Snowden
