Karl Robinson proud of his Oxford players after setting a club record

Posted Sunday, January 31, 2021 by PA

Oxford boss Karl Robinson saluted his team after they set a new club record of seven straight league wins with a 1-0 victory over Fleetwood at the Kassam Stadium.

The run of eight consecutive victories in all competitions equalled a club record.

And the sequence of seven successive league wins was the first time the U’s have done that since they entered the English Football League in 1962.

Josh Ruffels headed in the winner in the 29th minute after Fleetwood lost centre-half Charlie Mulgrew to a red card after six minutes.

Robinson, whose side are three points off the play-offs, said: “It’s amazing to set a club record.

“These are records that last a long time and there have been some great players over the years at this club.

“You hear fans talking about the great teams of the past and it is great to be mentioned in the same breath.

“This team is quite resilient in its play. We missed the injured Marcus McGuane, I thought, but we held on and got what was at times a scrappy win.

“We fell over the line rather than cantered over the line.

“A lot of teams around us will see us climbing up the table and there’ll be more of a fear factor now.

“I know we had never beaten Fleetwood before – those words were ringing in my ears before the game and in the last few minutes I was thinking this might be another of those days.

“We missed some good chances to put the game to bed.”

Robinson was unhappy with his substitute Dan Agyei, who did not have his shin pads on when he went on the pitch, and then missed a sitter when he appeared not to be switched on.

“I am not happy with Dan Agyei,” Robinson said. “He was not ready. That is not acceptable. And that sets the tone for his miss.

“We set standards at the football club, and we have to be better than that.”

Ruffels’ winner came from a corner, and Oxford have scored a lot of goals from set-plays this campaign.

“We work really hard at set-pieces,” Robinson said. “It’s something we set out to do in the summer – to score more goals from set-pieces.

“If you don’t play that well in a difficult game, you win 1-0 through a set-play.

“The players have really got themselves back into the mix in League One – and set-plays have played a big part in that.

“Another clean sheet as well is a real positive. Since June 2019 we haven’t really had a break, so it’s a testament to this group of players to find this sort of momentum.”

Fleetwood’s interim manager Simon Wiles had no complaints about Mulgrew’s red card.

He said: “You see the ball going over the top, and as soon as the lad has got the other side of Charlie you are always going to feel that little bit of contact.

“Unfortunately he got sent off and we had to adapt and try everything we could to keep ourselves in the game.

“Even with that, I thought we stayed on the front foot.

“I wanted to make sure we still had numbers up the pitch. So I thought we were brave with our formation.

“At least it gave us the platform to hopefully have opportunities, which didn’t quite fall for us.

“But I’m pleased with the response the players gave.”