Robinson proud of Oxford players after ending hectic month with late win - 7M sport

Robinson proud of Oxford players after ending hectic month with late win



Posted Sunday, March 01, 2020 by PA

Robinson proud of Oxford players after ending hectic month with late win

Oxford boss Karl Robinson said he was proud of his weary players after they ended an energy-sapping February with a 2-1 victory over Southend that lifted them to sixth and back into the play-off places.

Matty Taylor’s brilliant 84th-minute finish – his seventh goal in the last six games – finally sunk a battling Southend who played better than their lowly league position suggests.

The second-bottom Shrimpers looked set for a first point in six games after Lewis Gard equalised just before the break.

James Henry had fired the U’s in front from the penalty spot in the 17th minute after on-loan Brentford goalkeeper Patrik Gunnarsson pulled Taylor’s shirt.

Robinson, whose side have now won four on the trot in League One,  said: “I’m very proud of my players. We’ve played nine games in 29 days so it’s been a long, long month – even though it’s the shortest month!

“To get 16 points in February – that’s some amount of points – and don’t forget we’ve played a Premier League team in that month too.

“My players are absolutely knackered.

“The pitch was so dry. The wind took every bit of moisture out of it, and every pass was behind us, every counter-attack was slow.

“But we kept calm, we kept our heads down and our back-four were never really troubled and kept us solid, which gave us the platform to keep going forward.

“We made four tactical shape changes and the players found it in themselves to somehow get the win. We’ve found a way to win games in so many different ways this month.”

Taylor’s superb strike, turning and firing home left-footed following a cross by Marcus Browne, was the striker’s 16th goal of the season.

Robinson said: “That’s his best finish of the season – because it was with his weaker foot and he was off balance. It was a fantastic finish.”

Southend manager Sol Campbell was also proud of his players despite the loss, and felt they deserved to get a point.

He said: “The lads played really well.

“Oxford are a very good passing side, a fantastic outfit, and we took the game to them.

“But for us, whenever we got a couple of injuries it put us back really, and that’s what happened in the second half.

“I thought we did enough to get a draw out of the game.

“We had moments around the box. We just needed to be a bit more ambitious in and around the box and go for it a bit more.

“In our squad we had 12 players under 21 so I’m proud of them.

“It’s a sink or swim situation for a lot of our youngsters but they played very well.

“We need to start other games like this – we were on the front foot and had some good combinations in our play.

“The lads ran their socks off, and I think tiredness came into it in the last 20 minutes.”

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