Oxford United 6 Bristol Rovers 1

Oxford stepped on the gas as they deservedly thrashed Third Division opponents Bristol Rovers 6-1 in United's first appearance in the League Cup for five years. United eased into tomorrow's second-round draw, winning 6-1 for the first time since 29 December 2001, when they beat Halifax Town, coincidentally in their first season in the bottom division.

Chris Wilder kept the same starting line-up that drew 0-0 at Burton Albion on Saturday, although Alfie Potter and Mitchell Cole were among the substitutes, in place of Danny Philliskirk, whom Chelsea don't want cup-tied, and Leigh Franks. United's first change came on the hour, when Potter replaced Matt Green. Nine minutes later Asa Hall was replaced by Simon Clist, and with 12 minutes remaining Sam Deering came on for James Constable.

The first quarter of an hour was a fairly even contest, with Rovers looking dangerous going forwards, but ponderous at the back. This was exploited in the 18th minute when United broke away. Some decent passing, a trait that is becoming typical of the side, led to Matt Green playing the ball back into Simon Heslop's stride, and the midfielder scored his first goal for the club with a thumping 25-yard drive. United doubled their lead five minutes later, when Green ran on to a Constable through-ball, checked his run before beating Rovers' reserve 'keeper Mike Green.

This was the cue for United to relax, and just a minute later the visitors took full advantage, as Chris Lines evaded a couple of soft challenges before steering the ball past Rovers supporter Ryan Clarke. Instead of spurring Bristol on, this seemed to act as a kick up the backside for Oxford, who restored their two-goal cushion just three minutes later. Another Constable through-ball released Green, but instead of looking for his second he passed the ball back to Beano, who had a relatively simple tap-in. A mad period culminated just two minutes later, when Jack Midson scored his first of the season after latching on to a deflected Heslop shot to dink the ball past the advancing Green (that's Mike, not Matt). The remainder of the first half settled down somewhat, as the home crowd tried to believe their eyes.

United scored a fifth goal with the second half just seven minutes old. More good passing saw the ball end with Damian Batt on the right wing. His inch-perfect cross was met with a perfectly executed scissors-kick by Constable and the ball flew into the net. United didn't sit on their laurels though, as Heslop had one chip go narrowly wide and brought a superb flying save out of Green (Mike) with a fairly brilliant 30-yard dipping shot. Midson broke clear and shot into the side-netting, and also headed just over from another Batt cross. With the game in stoppage time, Heslop sealed the result with a shot from the edge of the area that went in off the post past the stranded 'keeper. Not a brilliant scoreline for the sub goalie, but he won't come up against many teams as good as Oxford.

In our report of the Burton game we suggested that United might be lacking some firepower, and that this would need to be addressed. We unequivocally withdraw that accusation. This was a scintillating performance that a strong Rovers side were unable to match. We wonder what the Bury scout was thinking on his way home.

This evening's referee was Fred Graham, taking charge of his first Oxford game. His performance was sadly inconsistent, and there were many obvious fouls that he either failed to penalise or missed totally. At least he didn't book any Oxford players. The attendance was 5,008 with 661 in the away end.

Former Us on the scoresheets tonight included Jordan Rhodes, who scored Huddersfield Town's goal in their 1-0 win at Carlisle United, while Justin Richards scored twice as Port Vale won 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers. United's opponents on Saturday, Bury, lost 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday and their opponents the following Saturday, Wycombe Wanderers, lost 2-1 at home to Millwall, the same scoreline by which Swindon Town lost at home to Leyton Orient.[@news]2779[/@news] [@opponent]bristol rovers[/@opponent]