Oxford suffered their first pre-season defeat this evening, against a Luton Town side that looked a different class to the other sides the Us have come up against so far. The visitors kept possession well, passed the ball around nicely, and, when it mattered, took their chances clinically.

The game started fairly evenly, and it was United who created the first chances, as first Yemi Odubade had a shot blocked, and then Joel Ledgister forced Dean Brill into his only real save of the game. Billy Turley then saved one-handed from Dean Morgan, before Luton took the lead on the half-hour mark. Luke Foster was rather embarrassingly nutmegged by a Luton player, who then pulled the ball back for Drew Talbot to shoot home.

Hutchinson heads wide

Turley was called to make a couple more saves, demonstrating his shot-stopping ability, before the visitors doubled their lead, just five minutes after opening the scoring. This time it was Morgan who received the ball wide on the left, advanced on Turley and slammed the ball home. The remainder of the first half saw a somewhat demoralised United struggle to retain possession, and the players were generally second to every loose ball.

A real Gnohere man

United started the second half having made three substitutions, of which the most significant was Barry Quinn coming on for triallist Arthur Gnohere, once of Burnley and Queens Park Rangers. Unfortunately, it was clear that Gnohere was not fully match fit, and he struggled to get into the game, although he was good in the air. He was a bit reminiscent of Georges Santos, but without the pace. Eddie Odhiambo-Anaclet replaced Carl Pettefer, while another triallist, Michael Standing, came on for Ledgister, who gave another decent performance.

United started the half knocking the ball around nicely, and obviously looking to hold onto possession. Standing was highly influential in this, and most of Oxford's decent moves either stemmed from or involved him. Alex Jeannin, the classiest Oxford player on the pitch, was also involved in most of United's best moments, whipping in plenty of good crosses, and adding his fair share of sweeping cross-field balls to his repertoire.

Eddie Anaclet, at right wingback, continued to frustrate, sometimes beating his man with ease, sometimes running into blind alleys, and often stopping and passing back when it seemed like he had space to run into. When Rob Duffy replaced Gary Twigg, he looked sharp, and won a lot of balls in the air, but too often gave away needless free kicks for holding or pushing. Even when Marvin Robinson came on for Yemi United still looked decent going forward, driven from midfield by Standing and Phil Trainer.

Yemi on the charge

It was a move involving Standing that led to United's goal, as a clinical ball from the former Aston Villa man released Jeannin, who advanced on goal and smashed the ball past Brill. It was a goal that the Yellows deserved, but they never really looked like getting an equaliser, which they didn't deserve. On the evidence of the last two games, both against Third Division opposition, Luton should do better than Bournemouth (although, as we will never tire of pointing out, pre-season results are meaningless).