Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Next Match | Tuesday 10 November Tue 10 Nov

WSL

(H)

03 D

04 H

54 M

01 S

Interviews & Features

Heritage

Photos

Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Russell Martin felt his side did enough to warrant claiming a place in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off Oxford City on Friday night.

2026-11-07T08:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

6 Hours 5 Mins Ago

Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Russell Martin felt his side did enough to warrant claiming a place in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off Oxford City on Friday night.

Sam Jones

2026-11-07T08:00+00:00

Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Russell Martin felt his side did enough to warrant claiming a place in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off Oxford City on Friday night.

Sam Jones

2026-11-07T08:00+00:00

Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Russell Martin felt his side did enough to warrant claiming a place in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off Oxford City on Friday night.

Sam Jones

2026-11-07T08:00+00:00

Martin ‘Happy To Get Through’ After Oxford Triumph

Russell Martin felt his side did enough to warrant claiming a place in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup by seeing off Oxford City on Friday night.

Sam Jones

2026-11-07T08:00+00:00

We defeated Oxford City 4-2 in the Emirates FA Cup First Round on Friday
Louis Page, Emil Riis, Kamari Doyle and Tommy Watson netted for the Foxes
Russell Martin assessed our performance post-match
Minutes for plenty of the squad pleased the Manager

The sixth-tier non-league outfit put up a good fight at MGroup Stadium, twice scoring through Scott Pollock and captain Josh Ashby, but Leicester’s quality ultimately shone through in the first round tie, with Louis Page, Emil Riis, Kamari Doyle and Tommy Watson all on the scoresheet for the Foxes in Oxfordshire.

Speaking after full-time, our Manager reflected on the good and bad he saw from the performance, as City navigated a potential upset against Ross Jenkins’ men to be in the hat for Monday’s second round draw.

“I actually thought we played some really good stuff tonight at times,” Martin said, digesting the 90 minutes. “I'm annoyed with the goals we concede. My job is to be really demanding of the group and we concede two really poor goals. That’s something we have to make sure we sort out.

“It's a tough challenge, [on a] different surface [against] a team that's been in a really good place and got something going really nicely here. [It’s a] totally different environment to what some of the guys have been used to and a lot of people playing that haven't played really regularly.

“I'm really happy we got through. We scored four goals, could have scored a couple more.”

Page’s first goal for the Club set us on the way to victory but we wouldn’t have it all our own way, with Oxford twice getting themselves back into the game before eventually succumbing to their Sky Bet League One opponents.

“[It was an] amazing goal,” Martin explained. “Louis was fantastic tonight again. We were so close a few times and that last pass got stuck under someone's feet. Sammy [Braybrooke] and Kami (Doyle) both came off tonight really annoyed with themselves, because they couldn't quite get that last action, although Kami's scored a really nice finish.

“It just wasn't quite happening for us and then they had a spell, which, in a cup tie, you probably expect at some point they're going to have. They had a few set pieces in a row and we didn't deal with it well enough and the guys thought it was a foul for their goal. But we didn't get over that disappointment quickly enough."

Several Foxes who have only played limited minutes in recent weeks got the chance to shine, including Harry Howell, who registered an assist for Riis’ header and was the pick of the substitutes after coming on at half-time, while Martin was pleased with all the contributions from the bench.

“I thought [in] the second half, we did brilliantly,” he continued. “Harry [Howell] came on, he was fantastic and we know he possesses that talent. He's had a bit of a stop-start time, so we have to try and use this as the springboard for him now to really kick on.

“Unfortunately for us, but good for him, he goes away with England Under-19s for a week now. Hopefully he’ll get some game time there. But he's dealt brilliantly with the disappointment of not playing so much recently.

“It's been hard for him, because the guys have found a good rhythm and the results have been okay, so it's been difficult for people to get into the team. All the subs that came on were really excellent, but the change of shape and putting Harry out wide helped us a lot to unlock them.

“We played some really good football and we probably should have scored a couple of goals and then they scored out of nowhere, really. I didn't see it coming. It's just a mistake from us and they scored, but thankfully we finished a game off with Tommy.

"I'm pleased with the guys who contributed tonight. Christian [McFarlane] came on, Tommy, Ilari [Kangasniemi] was fantastic. Bade [Aluko] when he came on was really, really good. And we're going to need everyone, I keep saying this.

“I was pleased we could get a lot of the guys on the pitch tonight and they had a really positive impact.”

LATEST HEADLINES

Community Participants Celebrate PL Kicks Cup Experience

Leicester City in the Community participants joined hundreds of female footballers at St George's Park for a special Premier League Kicks Cup tournament, celebrating the power of football to build friendships and create a sense of belonging.

1 Hour 5 Mins Ago

Emirates FA Cup: Second Round Draw Info

We’ll discover our Emirates FA Cup Second Round opponents in Monday evening’s draw after the 4-2 success at Oxford City.

16 Hours 5 Mins Ago

Foxes Progress Past Oxford City In FA Cup

A 4-2 scoreline saw us overcome Oxford City in the Emirates FA Cup First Round on Friday night.

16 Hours 25 Mins Ago

Team News: Oxford City vs. Leicester City

We’re at Oxford City for an Emirates FA Cup First Round meeting at MGroup Stadium (7:45pm GMT kick-off).

19 Hours 35 Mins Ago

LATEST PHOTOS

Oxford City 2 Leicester City 4

Images from our Emirates FA Cup First Round tie against Oxford City at MGroup Stadium.

16 Hours 20 Mins Ago

Leicester City 2 Stevenage 2

Match imagery from King Power Stadium as we face Stevenage in Sky Bet League One.

31 Oct, 2026

Leicester City 3 Wigan Athletic 0

Imagery from our league encounter with Wigan Athletic on Filbert Way on Tuesday night.

27 Oct, 2026

Luton Town 2 Leicester City 1

The best of the imagery from our Sky Bet League One encounter with Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

24 Oct, 2026