West Ham United loanee Nathan Holland scored his first senior league goals for Oxford United as they beat AFC Wimbledon 5-0.
The 21-year-old followed up a first senior goal against Newcastle United two weeks ago with a clinical league brace to help the U's cement an excellent win at Kassam Stadium on Tuesday evening.
In his eighth League One appearance, Holland’s first goal arrived in the 34th minute. The winger made a cutting diagonal run across the box, bursting onto a cute Mark Sykes pass and swiping the ball across Wimbledon keeper Joe Day into the top-left corner.
Stretching the lead to 4-0, Holland’s second for the U's duly arrived in the 55th minute, the winger latching onto a long ball over the top, bringing it down with his chest and prodding past Day with the outside of his foot.
Holland's first goal can be seen at 0:47 in the video below, and his second at 1:21.
Working in tandem on the left with former West Ham teammate and fellow Oxford loanee Marcus Browne, Holland enjoyed a brilliant tenth appearance in all competitions for Oxford, his trickery and pace tormenting his marker all night long – an opinion echoed by manager Karl Robinson.
“We had to play well and some of the stuff we did was outstanding,” Robinson told oufc.co.uk.
“Nathan Holland got his two goals… Nathan, Marcus… are 22 or 23 and have many years ahead of them but they played with tremendous maturity tonight as well as that youthful enthusiasm. Some of the stuff we played was terrific.”
Holland has enjoyed a landmark 2019/20 season thus far, making his first senior start for West Ham United in the Carabao Cup in September - coincidentally against Oxford.
Having starred for the Hammers’ U23s side, winning the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for November, his first senior Premier League appearance subsequently followed at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium the following month.
Holland's next challenge arrived in the form of his half-season move to Oxford in January and, with three goals and no shortage of exciting performances to his name already, the rest of the campaign bodes well for the promising winger.
Oxford United and Holland's next fixture is away at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Saturday afternoon, as they look to close the five-point gap between themselves and the playoff places.
