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Football

Oxford United

vs Portsmouth. Sky Bet Championship.

3: 00pm, Saturday 9th August 2025.

The Kassam Stadium Attendance: Attendance11, 492.

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Oxford United and Portsmouth at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday; Adrian Segecic scores on his debut to seal narrow win for John Mousinho's Pompey on opening day. Saturday 9 August 2025 18: 16, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Australian Adrian Segecic scored on his debut to give Portsmouth a 1-0 victory in a fiercely contested Championship encounter at Oxford. The summer signing struck in the 38th minute with a sharp follow-up finish after Jamie Cumming saved from Colby Bishop, who had broken clear from Cameron Brannagan's poor backpass. Pompey are now unbeaten in their last eight league games against the U's. John Mousinho's men went into the match without their ex-Oxford winger Josh Murphy but were boosted by striker Bishop's presence, along with the that they had lost only one of their previous 11 opening day league fixtures. Mousinho handed three players their debuts - John Swift, Florian Bianchini and Segecic. Skipper Elliott Moore was making his 200th league appearance for the U's, who had summer signings Brodie Spencer and Will Lankshear making their first appearances for the club. However, fellow new signing Brian De Keersmaecker was unable to join them because of a knock in training.

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Pompey started brightly and a brilliant run down the right by Callum Lang, then a deep cross, gave a difficult chance beyond the far post for Bianchini which he could not direct at goal. Both sides were guilty of sloppy passes in a tight encounter where any space was at a premium. The first effort on goal in the game came from the visitors in the 21st minute when Cumming comfortably saved Bianchini's low 15-yard shot. U's boss Gary Rowett was shown a yellow card for apparent dissent from his technical area. The home side produced their best attack of the first half when Brannagan was set free on the left and he drilled in a left-footed drive that Nicolas Schmid turned around his post. Pompey had spent the bulk of the first 45 minutes in Oxford's half so it came as no surprise when Segecic, signed from FC Sydney, gave them the lead. United started the second half better and Stanley Mills tested Schmid at his near post with a fierce shot from a tight angle. And as the game opened up, Segecic cut in from the right at the other end and fired over. Lankshear had a headed effort ruled out for offside as the U's pressed more, attacking towards their own fans. Jack Currie's shot from the edge of the box was tipped over by Schmid in the closing minutes, and Louie Sibley blazed over from the corner. But Portsmouth held out for their clean sheet to pick up three points at the Kassam Stadium for the second season running. Oxford's Gary Rowett: "It was one mistake and that was the main factor in the game. "Other than that Portsmouth edged the game without creating a lot of moments, but one mistake gives them that little bit of impetus to hold on to, and they defended well. "Michael Helik could maybe have dropped just a little bit deeper when Cammy made that mistake - he wouldn't normally make that pass, but he's been brilliant for us previously and it is what it is, just one mistake, probably a lack of concentration. "It was a physical encounter. Probably for most of the first half and a little bit of the second half we were a little off it and couldn't quite connect possession together well enough. "We had some moments but couldn't move quickly enough to not allow them some moments in the final third, and we allowed them to dictate some of those moments. "There wasn't much football or fluidity in the game, every chance seemed to come from a mistake. "But I thought the last 20 minutes was exactly what you would hope - there was more of an edge to us and more quality, there were some great balls in the box and more shots. "We really should punish one of those - of course Nicolas Schmid made a couple of very good saves, and Jamie made one for us in the first half. "But from that last 20 minutes I thought we deserved something from the game. " Portsmouth's John Mousinho: "I thought it was a really good performance for 60 minutes. "We controlled the game in the first half and I thought we deserved the lead. We created by far the better chances of the game. "Naturally towards the back end of the game there was a lot of pressure on our goal with the corners and long throws, which we dealt with largely pretty well. "There were just a couple of mistakes we made which led to a build-up of pressure. "But overall I'm extremely pleased. We're not going to be the finished article by any means on August 9 but it's something to build on, and a clean sheet as well. "Segecic was great not just to get the winning goal but his workrate was superb as well. "His pressing was great and he picked himself up into some very nice pockets at times, so I was really impressed with him on his debut. " The £250, 000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.

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