Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur loanees impress for Oxford United

The Leicester City loanee has impressed since stepping into the starting XI for the goalless draw at home to Burnley last month.

Including the Clarets game, Nelson has started each of the last five matches for United.

At home against Derby County last night, the centre half’s ability to carry the ball into midfield and then search for a through pass for the U’s attackers was particularly eye-catching.

Naturally, such bravery in possession brings with it risk too, and there were a couple of occasions when ambitious passes didn’t quite reach their target.

For United though, the potential reward outweighs the risk.

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U’s first team assistant head coach Craig Short, a Premier League centre back with Everton and Blackburn Rovers, is enjoying what he’s seeing from Nelson.

Short said: “I’m encouraging him to do that, and I’ve spoken to him quite a bit about it. When you’ve got one centre forward pressing you, you can do that.

“He’s got exceptional pace as well. He glides across the ground and is probably one of the quickest players here.

“He’s got two good feet, and you wouldn’t think he was right-footed with some of the left-footed diagonals he was hitting.

“We’ll encourage him to do that, of course we will, and then you’ve always got someone who can fill in for him. I’m not going to stop him doing that.”

Ben Nelson brings the ball out from the back for Oxford United (Image: Mike Allen) Against the Rams, Dane Scarlett was handed his first league start for United, and backed up his stoppage time leveller at the weekend with the opener last night.

Short said of the Tottenham Hotspur loanee: “He’s deserved his chance and he’s trained really well. Last year, we had to keep rolling out Mark [Harris] every week, and he did a great job, of course he did, but now we’ve got competition, and with three games in a week, it’s important to adjust the side.

“Dane has paid us back. He was never going to last more than sixty minutes, I don’t think, and he said he was feeling it a little bit, but when you’ve got Mark Harris to come on, you’ve always got a threat anyway, so it’s good having that squad.”

Short added: “We’ve watched him in training and he’s well thought of by Spurs. Some of the stuff he does in training, you wouldn’t want to play against him.

“It’s good having the competition. Last year, it was fortunate that Mark got through the whole season without getting any injuries.

“We want to save his legs sometimes, and especially with a big game this weekend away at Sunderland, with the travelling, it’s important we do rotate the squad.”