Forster-Caskey thrilled to net first Oxford United goal (From The Oxford Times)

Forster-Caskey thrilled to net first Oxford United goal

10:01am Monday 20th August 2012 in Sport By David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

JAKE Forster-Caskey was delighted to score his first goal for Oxford United and revealed the inspiration came from a phone call before the game.

The teenager set the U’s on their way to a 2-0 victory at Bristol Rovers by opening the scoring with a perfect curled shot midway through the first half.

Forster-Caskey is the step-son of former Brighton and Reading hitman Nicky Forster.

The striker scored more than 200 goals during his career and passed on some valuable advice before the game.

Forster-Caskey said: “Nicky said to me ‘if you see the goal just have a go for it’ and I did – luckily for me it went in.

“He’d have been happy with that, I’m just trying to catch him now.”

At the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Ryan Clarke, a former Bristol Rovers player, was not surprised with the quality of finish.

He said: “We see that from Jake every day in training.

“He’s absolutely unbelievable on the ball, he’s got a great future and he likes the other side of the game as well – working hard and sticking his foot in.”

It capped an excellent start to Forster-Caskey’s six-month loan spell from Brighton & Hove Albion.

The midfielder has offset the absence of the injured Peter Leven, helping the U’s to victories over Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup last Tuesday and Rovers on Saturday.

Forster-Caskey admitted the extra time played against the Cherries caught up with the players against the Pirates, which made the victory all the more satisfying.

He said: “It’s brilliant, especially after Tuesday night.

“It was a really tough game, to play two hours at the start of the season isn’t easy, but we’ve come away against a really good side who are going to be competitive in the league, we’re all really chuffed.

“I think the boys really felt it in the last ten minutes, but when you’ve got the 2-0 advantage you just dig in and we found something.

“I thought as a team we were brilliant.”