SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL

OXFORDSHIRE marched into the last eight of the ESFA Under 16 Inter-County Trophy with a 4-0 win over Surrey at Milton United.

Victory in the third-round tie was sweet revenge for Oxon, who had been beaten by Surrey on penalties in the final of the under 14 competition at Brentford last season.

Greg Hackett fired Oxon into the lead after just four minutes.

He then had a shot parried by the Surrey keeper and Sam Humphreys followed up to tap home.

Dom Hyam’s close-range header after the break made it 3-0, and James Clarke added the fourth in the last minute.

Oxon are now away to Devon in the quarter-finals.

  • CHERWELL (Oxford) kept their nerve to beat Guthlaxton College, Wigston, 4-2 on penalties in the ESFA Under 16 Schools’ Cup sixth round.

Ahmed Chrediy and Marcus Gray scored for hosts Cherwell as normal time ended 2-2.

With no further scoring in extra time, the match went to penalties and Chrediy, Abdi Farah, Duran Martin and Josh Ashby netted from the spot to fire Cherwell through.

St Birinus (Didcot) also made it through to the last 16 following a 2-1 home win over Brune Park Community College, Gosport.

Sam McDermaid and Chris Hewitt struck for St Birinus in the first half.

St Birinus suffered penalty heartache in the ESFA Under 15 Schools’ Cup, going out 4-2 in a shoot-out at Bitterne Park, Southampton, in the sixth round.

The tie had ended 2-2 after normal time with Matthew Taylor and Jack Brown scoring for St Birinus to cancel out strikes by Bitterne Park’s Max Evans and Bradley Collins.

Extra time brought no further scoring, but the Southampton side edged it in the shoot-out.