MARCUS Browne scored and was sent off as he made his long-awaited return from injury.

In heavy rain, Oxford United fielded a strong side, with a mixture of first team squad players and youngsters, for a behind closed doors friendly against Cardiff City under-23s.

It didn’t take the U’s long to take the lead, with Ben Davis playing in Sam Baldock to side-foot past the goalkeeper from 12 yards with just 10 minutes on the clock.

Five minutes later, the lead was doubled when Leon Chambers-Parillon slid through Sam Winnall.

On the half hour mark, Davis made it 3-0 to United.

The midfielder showed a lovely turn to get away from his marker before curling a low effort past the goalkeeper from 20 yards.

The focus was of course on Browne, and with 38 minutes on the clock, he got his goal and United’s fourth.

The attacker had looked sharp, seeing a free kick tipped on to the post and another shot pushed behind just before his goal, when he unleashed a sublime first time shot from the edge of the box, which curled in off the bar.

However, with 60 seconds until the break, Browne reacted having ridden a few tough challenges, and was shown his marching orders.

The red card will of course not impact United’s season and Browne will not serve a suspension – and it didn’t hinder United’s rhythm, with Winnall driving into the far corner from the edge of the box to make it five.

Kie Plumley came on for Simon Eastwood at half-time, and was involved in a beautiful team goal just three minutes after the break.

The move started with the goalkeeper and made its way to the other end of the pitch for Baldock to grab his second.

Cardiff got on the scoresheet on 75 minutes when Plumley was rounded for a tap-in.

A raft of second half substitutes for the U’s saw Gatlin O’Donkor, Slavi Spasov, Tyler Goodrham, Josh Anifowose and Yoav Sade replace Baldock, Winnall, Oisin Smyth, Davis and John Mousinho respectively.

Oxford United: Eastwood (Plumley 45); Forde, Mousinho (Sade 80), Golding, Elechi; Chambers-Parillon, Smyth (Goodrham 61), Davis (Anifowose 70); Baldock (O’Donkor 55), Winnall (Spasov 58), Browne.