Karl Robinson effusive in his praise of Oxford following AFC Wimbledon victory

Posted Thursday, December 30, 2021 by PA

Oxford boss Karl Robinson saluted his side’s energy as they saw off a rusty AFC Wimbledon 3-0 at the Kassam Stadium with a scintillating attacking performance.

The U’s dominated from the start with goals from Mark Sykes, Matty Taylor and Sam Long lifting them into fifth in Sky Bet League One.

“The energy was incredible,” Robinson said. “And my players really look like they’re enjoying it at the moment.

“This was about everything here, not just the team or the management but the collective – the stewards, the groundsman – and I thought our pitch was magnificent.

“We work hard on rotations and the big thing for me and our DNA is how hard we work.

“All of them worked incredibly hard and every single player was very, very good.

“It was a joy to watch and to be a manager of a team performing like that.”

Robinson said loanee Herbie Kane stood out for him and revealed that an agreement had been reached with his parent club Barnsley to extend his stay.

“We agreed with Barnsley today to keep Herbie Kane for the rest of the season. He’s signed the paperwork with the new clause and he cannot now be recalled – which is great news for our football club.

“Some of the magical things he does, and the play around him, is fantastic.”

Oxford’s wingers played a key part in the victory, though, with the in-form Ryan Williams teeing-up Sykes for the opening goal, and Gavin Whyte producing quality crosses for Taylor and Long to net.

Taylor also had an impudent effort ruled out for offside, while Dons goalkeeper Nik Tzanev produced two other fine saves.

AFC Wimbledon had not played for two-and-a-half weeks and boss Mark Robinson thought it showed.

They were not at the races in the first half, but did improve for the second 45 minutes, with substitute Zach Robinson’s fierce shot testing goalkeeper Simon Eastwood late on.

“Oxford were very good but we were really poor,” said Mark Robinson. “We looked like we hadn’t played for nearly three weeks.

“To be honest I didn’t see it coming because we had been good in our last few matches and training had been good. But Oxford are a good side.

“This 90 minutes won’t define us, it’s just the manner of the defeat which is very disappointing.

“We know we are way off where we were before our break in games.

“It’s so difficult to get the intensity of matches, but I’ll have to look at what we do in training to make sure we don’t have another lacklustre performance like this one.”