Studley FC 0 Oxford United XI 5 (Ciampoli, Alexis 2, O'Sullivan, Beechers,)

Funny thing the pre-season, when I was a kid it seemed
to consist of a couple of meaningless games at the
Manor by means of a taster for the proper season to
come. Nowadays it's almost a mini season in itself
with triallists that you know that will never get
signed, and the chance to visit clubs you'd never
visit in the normal scheme of things.
United's final pre-season friendly, though had a
little more riding on it. After the disgrace of the
Hellenic match, and the loss of McCargo and Van
Dommele in the aftermath, it was painfully obvious
that the message to the players was shape up, or ship
out. The Studley officials expected a few first eleven
players, what they got was a highly motivated youth
team and a highly demotivated Paul Powell, in probably
his last appearance in an OUFC shirt. Studley were
unable to field their star player, former Liverpool
defender David Burrows as he was on a pro/am golf day.
An interesting aside was that Studley had not lost any
of their pre-season friendlies, and most of them were
against Southern League opposition.
It was therefore no surprise that United made a fast
start. Garner headed over, before Blackstock set up
Brandish on a one on one with keeper Lewis. The keeper
showed great skill by blocking the effort, and Neath
responded by shooting just wide.
On 34 minutes Neath found Coppin, after Garner had
hesitated, and wasted the chance by blasting over.
Brandish was than felled in the box by Robinson but
the Referee gave only a corner from his vantage point
of some 35 yards away.
The entertaining game was providing some interesting
subtexts. Ciampoli was enjoying a running battle with
Robinson (a Studley official described him as having a
screw loose!), and Blackstock was turning the defence
inside out but without gaining his scoring touch.
O'Sullivan found him with a through ball, but he shot
wide when a little composure would have surely
produced a goal.
Just when we all thought this would be a midfield
battle, United took the lead. Ciampoli curled in a
free kick 20 yards out into the top left hand corner,
giving Lewis no chance.
Crisp headed Coppin's cross wide before the last
action of the half saw O'Sullivan found Blackstock,
who found Carbon who fired over.
The first 3 minutes of the second half put the game
out of Studley's reach. Firstly, United doubled their
lead via a deft Alexis chip from 20 yards. Secondly,
Blackstock's shot seemed destined for the bottom right
corner, but Lewis's full length save held the U's at
bay for a full 30 seconds. The resulting corner found
Blackstock whose header was blocked but O'Sullivan was
able to stab home at close range for 3 0.
It was all Oxford and it was merely a matter of time
before more goals came. Carbon's cross was headed over
by Brandish, before Lovegrove's long run into the box
resulted in him shooting just wide.
Studley brought on former Birmingham City midfielder
Nicky Cross's son James, and he showed plenty of
ambition, but United broke through again on 82
minutes.
Blackstock broke though and the left and found
Beechers, running clear in the centre, and the young
substitute slammed home from just outside of the box.
Cross's shot hit the post and was cleared after a
scramble but it was the young Oxford team that had the
last word. Carbon's strong run through the middle
resulted in his shot being blocked. The ball ran out
to Alexis but his shot hit Carbon. He was fortunate to
see the ball rebound back to him and he made no
mistake this time, the ball rebounding in off of the
base of the right post.