Oxford head coach Gary Rowett praised Tyler Goodrham after his ninth-minute winner saw his Championship side beat League Two Colchester 1-0 to reach the second round of the Carabao Cup.
The 22-year-old midfielder hit a brilliant dipping shot over goalkeeper Matt Macey from just outside the area at Kassam Stadium.
Rowett said: “We know with Tyler there’s a player with real potential in there.
“He’s done that quite often in training, it’s one of those where, when someone whips it in that much, nine times out of 10 it doesn’t go into the top corner.
“It was a real good bit of quality – I wish we’d just shown a few more moments of quality to finish other moves off.
“We tried a new system with three at the back because I thought we would have quite a lot of the ball and it would free us up a bit.
“We had some good moments, but there are some things we could do better – but it’s early in the season.”
Colchester boss Danny Cowley was pleased with his side’s performance, saying: “I thought we were excellent to a man and as a group.
“The boys restricted a Championship team mainly to shots from distance.
“The goal was real Championship quality. To be honest, we don’t see goals like that too often in our league.
“But overall it was a great night for Colchester United.
“We went toe-to-toe with a Championship outfit and we had a such a young team out there as well.”
