Irons midfielder grabs five goals from last eight games

( Getty Images)

Exciting Hammers midfielder Marcus Brown scored twice as Oxford beat Rochdale in the League One fixture at the Kassam Stadium last night.

And that took the player’s tally to seven from 20 games this season with five of them coming in the last eight games.

Browne is seen as one of the brightest Under 23 prospects at West Ham and is on a season-long loan with Oxford which is going particularly well.

Two goals in three minutes in the first half put the U’s in control with Jamie Mackie turning the ball home in the 11th minute after Josh Lillis could only parry Rob Dickie’s header from Cameron Brannagan’s corner.

Three minutes later the lively Browne raced down the left and cut the ball back for James Henry to fire in first-time.

Ian Henderson pulled one back in the 30th minute, with his 13th goal of the season, when Simon Eastwood failed to hold Callum Camps’ free kick.

However, Browne made it 3-1 in the 52nd minute, hammering in James Hanson’s right-wing cross from close range before adding a second in the 78th minute.

ClaretandHugh says: Marcus is one of the best of the crop at the academy and his Oxford loan spell is clearly doing him the world of good. Like so many, he was being tipped for a first team breakthrough this season but instead his academy bosses decided he would be better off developing his skills on loan and it looks a very wide decision. Some player develop quicker by going out whilst others are more comfortable learning at West Ham. Declan Rice was the perfect example of that as he developed straight from the academy into first team football. Marcus shot to relative prominence when he grabbed four goals in an away match at Everton to deprive the Toffees youngsters of the Premier League division two title last season. At that time he was captain of the Hammers youngsters and looks another academy star in the making.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon