Oxford United beaten 2-1 by Stevenage in the Papa John’s Trophy

Oxford Line-up and Stats

Oxford vs Stevenage Match Report

After the4th game in 10 days, a rotated Oxford United side went into the international break suffering a disappointing loss. The last Papa John’s trophy was a young side, and manager Karl Robinson played a very strong side with only the less experienced Joel Cooper and Dan Agyei starting.

The pair were involved early when Cooper set Brannagan free to tee up Sykes to cross for Agyei to set his team off to a flyer with a 11th minute header to open the scoring.

It should have been a formality against the struggling League 2 side, but Stevenage were resolute and soaked up the U’s pressure.

Chances were missed to kill the game off, and Brannagan was stand out. Ben Davis came off the bench for his debut, and could only watch as Reid drove him an equalizer. The former Fulham man was almost an instant hero with a chance to score after a Brannagan cut-back.

With penalties looming, Norris got a last minute winner in a reverse of Saturdays drama.

With 2 losses in the competition it would take a miracle against Spurs U21 team to progress. Oxford would have to hope for a Cambridge win and to win their own game comprehensively to overtake Stevenage on goal difference.

With Saturdays game against Sunderland postponed due to International call-ups, next up is the home game against Plymouth on the 16th.