Robinson delight as Oxford extend unbeaten run to 16 matches with FA Cup win

Oxford boss Karl Robinson heaped praise on his side after they continued their “incredible” run with a 1-0 win over Walsall in the second round of the FA Cup.

James Henry grabbed his 10th goal of the season late on to seal victory and help the team set a new club record, with the League One high-flyers now unbeaten in 16 competitive matches.

A replay had looked on the cards until the former Millwall and Wolves midfielder broke the deadlock with six minutes remaining, earning the praise of his manager in the process.

Robinson, who felt his side should have been celebrating a much more comfortable win, said: “I thought we were excellent – it was us back to a bit more of a rhythm. We have missed chances today and we have been very ruthless.

“We have good players and we always believe we have the ability to score goals. We should have scored four or five today and made that game so much more comfortable.

“The way we play is all about rotation. We get so many people in the box but he [Henry] has a knack and that’s the experience that he has. Thankfully today he has popped up and got us into the third round of the FA Cup which means we are still in every cup competition.

“Getting to the third round of the FA Cup is a proud milestone for us but we have also broken a club record in the Football League. And that’s important because it means you can come back in years to come and say you were part of the team that went 16 games without losing a game of football.

“We are seven days short of 100 days so the run is incredible and it is all down to the players.”

Oxford dominated the chances throughout but lacked potency in front of goal. And when they did hit the target they found Saddlers keeper Liam Roberts blocking their way.

He made a decent stop to keep out a Tariqe Fosu effort in the first half and then produced an even better save as he somehow kept out a powerful Josh Ruffels header a minute into the second half.

Matty Taylor thought he had scored the opener just before the interval only to be denied by the offside flag and Fosu also had a handful of efforts blocked in front of goal as the hosts did their utmost to keep United at bay.

Walsall’s best chance fell to Josh Gordon early in the second period but the striker failed to force keeper Simon Eastwood into a save, putting his effort wide of the target.

And there was a late opportunity for substitute Elijah Adebayo but his touch let him down and the ball was swept away by visiting defender Rob Dickie.

Saddlers manager Darrell Clarke admitted his side were second best.

He said: “Oxford were the better team. They are going to be a top-six League One team and they move the ball very well.

“We knew that before the game and we were trying to think of a different way of skinning a cat. Our players aren’t at their level but the effort, endeavour and desire from the lads was there to see.

“When you have young boys out there they have to learn quickly and then they progress and you turn them into players that the likes of Oxford have.

“They have quality through the team and have smashed a lot of League One teams recently so we knew it was going to be a difficult afternoon and we’re just disappointed that we didn’t defend that one ball coming in at the end.”