Witney United 4 Oxford United 2

A very young Oxford side was well beaten by an impressive Witney outfit, who dominated a game played in atrocious conditions. United took the lead after quarter of an hour when young American triallist Paul Dyer took advantage of a poor back pass to dispossess goalkeeper Rich Barrett and tap into the empty net. In the 36th minute former Witney defender Jack Smith volleyed spectacularly into the net from a corner. Unfortunately he put it past his own keeper to level the scores. Five minutes later Ben Thompson, who had looked lively throughout, rounded Nathan Silver to give the home side a half-time lead.

The second half was only a couple of minutes old when Dyer scored his second with a neat finish to pull Oxford level. However, parity lasted just two minutes before Witney again took the lead in the driving rain. Midway through a second half punctuated by numerous substitutions Thompson scored his second from the penalty spot to complete the scoring and give Witney a fully deserved 4-2 win. They also hit the crossbar twice in the space of a minute, while at the other end Oxford hardly had a look in.

None of the Oxford players stood out, other than Dyer for his two goals, although ROS Declan Benjamin looked strong in a defensive midfield role. Silver had a bit of a 'mare following his heroics at Brackley last Saturday, but he wasn't helped by his defence, which was often caught in possession or gave the ball away too cheaply. Sam Deering, Oxford's senior player, failed to get into the game. Witney broke at pace and had United on the back foot much of the time, and although this was a friendly game towards the end the tackles started to get quite tasty and there were a couple of face-offs. This was a disappointing performance for the youngsters, but they'll rarely come up against better opposition than the Blanketmen.