FIRST half goals from Tyler Goodrham and Matt Phillips ensured Oxford United progressed to the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win against Peterborough United.

The victory backed up Saturday’s 2-0 win against Norwich City in the Sky Bet Championship opener, for what has been a highly encouraging start to the season.

We picked out some of the key talking points from the Carabao Cup victory.

READ ALSO: Our player ratings after U’s progress in Carabao Cup

Debutants impress for U’s

Head coach Des Buckingham named four debutants in his starting line-up, including goalscorer Phillips, plus Matt Ingram, Peter Kioso and Louie Sibley.

Ingram made a handful of smart stops and looked very assured between the posts. The battle between him and Jamie Cumming for the number one jersey will be an interesting one as the season develops.

In front of Ingram, right back Kioso was solid against his former loan side. He was directly up against Abraham Odoh, who was arguably Peterborough’s brightest spark.

Odoh got the better off Kioso on a couple of occasions, and it was a good battle between the two.

Sibley played as one of the advanced midfielders, and did superbly well to get to the byline and pick out Phillips for the second goal of the night.

There’s no doubting Sibley will play a key role for United this season.

Phillips was just about the pick of the bunch though, and not just for his goal.

The 33-year-old was direct in his play, whether it was putting crosses into the penalty box or taking on his marker.

His experience and quality should shine for the U’s this campaign.

Malcolm Ebiowei made his debut as well, replacing Phillips at half-time, and he was bright in possession, and looked a real handful.

False nine experiment

The most intriguing part of the teamsheet though was Ruben Rodrigues leading the attack as a false nine.

His style up front was naturally different to that of Mark Harris, with Rodrigues regularly dropping deeper to collect the ball, therefore allowing space for runners off him to take advantage of.

While Rodrigues didn’t necessarily threaten in the final third, it was a decent shift as the false nine, and potentially something that Buckingham can use in-game at some point this season.

Raking passes from deep

From centre back, Sam Long played a couple of lovely diagonal passes out to the flanks in the first half, getting United up the pitch in a slightly more direct fashion.

Long was superb at right back against the Canaries, and backed that up with another top performance.

Josh McEachran meanwhile played in the deep-lying midfield spot, and his passing range was excellent.

He controlled the tempo of the game with a mix of shorter incisive passes or wonderful crossfield balls.