TYLER Goodrham used to play as a defensive midfielder in the Oxford United academy set-up, Des Buckingham has revealed.

Goodrham has featured almost exclusively as a winger since breaking into the U’s first team, but was selected as one of the two advanced central midfield players as United romped to a 4-0 win at home to Fleetwood Town on Easter Monday.

The 20-year-old notched an assist for Cameron Brannagan, who opened the scoring against the Cod Army, and caught the eye in a central attacking role.

READ ALSO: Des Buckingham reacts to Oxford United’s biggest league win of the season

U’s head coach Buckingham used a friendly against Southampton during the international break to see how Goodrham would fare in a central position, while also leaning on the expertise of assistant coach Chris Hackett, who worked with Goodrham in the academy.

Buckingham said: “He’d been out injured for a couple of weeks, so we tried him there against Southampton in the friendly while the international break was on.

“He played very well, and I think the beauty of having someone like Chris Hackett in the first team coaching staff, is that he’s brought Tyler through the academy and seen the development through the academy.

“Tyler has been a midfield player, and used to play as a six or a defensive midfield player, and played more of his time as an attacking midfield player.

“Chris has seen that development in him, so having Chris in the environment, where he knows that, means we can try and work Tyler on that.

“We know he can play on the left, but a lot of that time he spent rolling inside anyway.

“He’s a young developing player, and an exciting one, and it’s good now that he’s shown he can play a couple of positions.

“He gives you something totally different, and different to what we have in our squad, and what we see in the league.

“He’s got a lot of really positive attributes, and bearing in mind he’s still so young, I’m delighted we were able to secure him on a longer-term deal here.

“We’ll continue working with him and developing him, whether it’s as a midfield player or a wide player, or anywhere across that front five now.

“It’s good for him because it gives him more game time, and it gives us more options to influence the game.”