Leicester City defender Ben Nelson showed the “type of player he will be” as he helped Oxford United keep a clean sheet against Burnley on his loan debut.
Nelson has waited patiently for his first outing with his new club, but got his chance on Saturday, Oxford earning a creditable draw at home to promotion contenders Burnley. Not only were the Clarets in the Premier League last season, but they had arrived at the Kassam Stadium as the joint-top scorers in the Championship.
But Nelson, starting alongside City academy graduate Elliott Moore at the heart of the Oxford defence, restricted Burnley to one shot on target, despite Scott Parker’s side enjoying 70 per cent of the ball. Oxford boss Des Buckingham was very pleased with what he saw from a “wonderful young player”.
He told the club: “I’m extremely proud of what I’ve just watched from my players and I’ve just told them that in there. There’s been moments in the past three homes games where we’ve had a lot of the ball and we’ve created a lot more than we have today, but we’ve welcomed what was a Premier League side less than six months ago and we’ve contained them to one shot on goal. The defensive set-up is so important to us picking up points and, hopefully come the end of the season, will put us in a strong position.
“We’ve got a wonderful young player who has played at this level in Ben Nelson. He’s been patiently waiting and training well. After 15 or 20 minutes, he calmed down and settled down and showed the type of player he can be and will be.
Long tipped for a bright future after making the City bench for the first time aged 16, Nelson made nine appearances under Enzo Maresca last season, and very nearly remained in Steve Cooper’s first-team squad this term. But the 20-year-old wanted minutes on loan and amid interest from a host of Championship clubs, selected newly-promoted Oxford, who now sit 11th in the table.
Nelson said after his debut: “It was a tough game and we didn’t have as much of the ball as we liked, but when we had to defend, we did it really well and we came out with the clean sheet, so you can’t complain about that. They’re a top team, you can see the way they play. But we nullified that today, and that’s good for us.”
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