The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions
Newly promoted League One side Oxford United saw their first pre-season friendly at home end in defeat as Premier League champions Leicester City won in a close encounter.
But as the scoreline suggested, it wasn’t an easy win for the Foxes, who fell behind to an early Chris Maguire free-kick, only to level shortly after through Demarai Gray. The winner came in the second half as Jeffrey Schlupp saw his low drive beat man of the match, Simon Eastwood.
With just under 9,500 fans inside the Kassam Stadium, and temperatures still above 30c, it was going to be a long and tiring evening. But following the U’s successful week in Spain, Michael Appleton’s side didn’t hide against a Leicester side that included players such as Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Wes Morgan and Kasper Schmeichel in the opening half.
As expected, the Premier League champions began stronger, winning four corners inside the opening ten minutes, but nothing would come of them for Claudio Ranieri’s side. But it was the hosts that would score the games opener. Foxes skipper Morgan fouled Ryan Taylor 25 yards from goal,and Maguire, who only signed last week following a successful loan spell at the end of last season, curled home a low drive to the left of Schmeichel, giving the 8,000 home fans something to cheer.
From the goal, Oxford began to gain confidence, and controlled midfield with new skipper, John Lundstrum, orchestrating his side. A fine move, something U’s supporters saw frequently last season as they gained promotion to League One, ended up with Wes Thomas heading over the bar, when he should have probably tested Schmeichel.
And it was to prove costly as less than a minute later, Leicester leveled. United made a mess of a throw in inside their half, and the ball eventually fell to Gray who saw his shot bounce in off the post.
The Foxes then began to regain control of the game, with Drinkwater containing possession for the visitors. Leonardo Ulloa came close to giving Leicester the lead heading into the break, but saw his effort sail off target.
Leicester, who face Celtic, Barcelona and PSG in upcoming friendlies, started the second half stronger. Shinji Okazaki was denied by a brilliant save by Eastwood, whilst Aaron Martin, who replaced Curtis Nelson at the back before the break, made a vital block to deny Schlupp the goal.
Leicester controlled possession, now without Drinkwater, Mahrez, Morgan and Schmeichel, all of which had been substituted at the interval, but the U’s saw openings with the Foxes key men benched.
Thomas found space, but his effort was blocked, before full back Christian Ribeiro failed to find a teammate in the box.
Leicester made multiple changes midway through the second half, with record signing Ahmed Musa coming on. The forward ran behind United on a couple of occasions, even forcing Eastwood into a save.
But following a lose pass from Joe Rothwell, who played well in midfield in the game, the Foxes launched a counter attack, which resulted in Schlupp slotting past Eastwood to give the Premier League side the lead.
Undeterred, the U’s looked for an immediate equaliser but Taylor failed to convert from Joe Skarz’s assist following another decent move.
Appleton brought on youth players in the shape of James Roberts, Johnny Giles and Josh Ashby, all of which injected a little life into a tiring United side. Giles forced substitute keeper Zieler into a routine save as the U’s failed to find an equaliser.
The result in a pre-season friendly is irrelevant, with the match fitness, tactics and performances taking centre stage. Ranieri would have been happy with what he saw, as too would Appleton.
Oxford clearly struggled after losing key figures Kemar Roofe and Callum O’Dowda last week to Leeds United and Bristol City respectively, particularly as the duo chipped in with over thirty goals last season, and a lack of width following the injury to Alex MacDonald could also be an issue. The Oxford manager has said a couple more signings are needed, but it was a valiant effort against the Premier League champions in Mediterranean conditions at the Kassam Stadium.
