Oxford boss Robinson hails turnaround after tactical switch

Posted Sunday, March 03, 2019 by PA

Oxford boss Karl Robinson praised his players for taking on board their half-time instructions as they saw off Scunthorpe 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium.

On-loan Watford striker Jerome Sinclair scored two goals in a game for the first time in his career as he headed home in the 65th and 80th minutes, before sub George Thomas pulled one back for the Iron in stoppage time.

Robinson said: “Our big thing in the dressing room at half-time – and we talked for a lot longer than we normally do – was about engaging them higher up the park.

“In the first half we played too many balls into the midfield. They played with three different systems and at times they almost played with no striker.

“Both our goals came from crosses. Jerome’s not bad in the air for someone who’s not that tall – and he was a massive threat for us.

“Jerome has worked so hard this week on staying in the middle of the goal for when the crosses come in.”

Sinclair headed in his first from a cross by Mark Sykes – who was making his home debut – and the second from a delivery by John Mousinho as Oxford chalked up back-to-back league wins for the first time this campaign.

Robinson said: “Sykes started a bit ‘off’ but everyone can see the quality of the young lad.

“The crazy thing is we’re now just two points from 13th place. One more win and we’d be stood here in the middle of the table.

“I’m pleased for the team, we’ve tried our hand this week at football, cricket, rugby and boxing . . . we’ve tried to be a unified group.”

Scunthorpe manager Stuart McCall was upset that his defence twice left Sinclair free to head in.

McCall said: “I’m frustrated, angry and disappointed. We shouldn’t be losing goals like that.

“Twice we lost the man. The second one was a great ball in, but we shouldn’t be losing the man like that.

“We had enough men in the box and it’s not as though they had two strikers to deal with. They only had one, so one of the centre-halves should be able to look after him.

“I said at half-time we’d been doing all right but we needed to do more to win the game.

“It’s little errors and tiny details that are costing us points. They had two attempts on goal, and scored two goals.

“We didn’t create a lot though performance-wise we were all right. But to lose in the manner we did when at half-time we were in control is hugely frustrating.

“We should have taken something from our last two away games, and haven’t. We’ve got 11 games left and we need to find some consistency to win five of them.”