OXFORD United’s young players look set to be given a boost with new boss Karl Robinson keen to promote from within.

The head coach set his stall out immediately, using his opening game in charge last weekend to hand Malachi Napa a first start.

Robinson had a reputation for bringing through talent from the youth team at Charlton Athletic.

One of those players to impress was Ademola Lookman, who joined Everton in a move worth up to £11m last year.

The new U’s boss sees parallels between the forward, now on loan with RB Leipzig, and the 18-year-old Napa.

He said: “I’m really impressed with him.

“This club has been about developing their own and it’s important when we have players like him we persevere with some of the errors he makes.

“The kid’s a gem to work with, he reminds me of Ademola Lookman who I worked with for a while.”

Others are in the pipeline, with five U’s teenagers offered their first professional contracts earlier this month.

And the under 18s have a chance to win silverware on Saturday, when they face Luton Town in the EFL Youth Alliance Southern Area Cup final at the Kassam Stadium (11am).

The first team squad are in the middle of a three-day build-up to the Easter fixtures, where Robinson will be looking to begin putting his ideas across.

One area of focus to come out of Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Portsmouth was on game management.

He said: “Maybe some of our players need to have that cheating mentality at times.

“There was a kick on my centre back and a clear push – nothing happened.

“James Henry goes through the middle of the pitch past one or two, almost falls but tries to be honest.

“These are small things with game management that hopefully they will learn and be better at.”