Karl Robinson revels in Oxford’s hard-fought win on an emotional evening

Karl Robinson revealed he and his Oxford players celebrated their hard-fought 1-0 success at bottom-of-the-table Crewe “more than any win” this term.

The U’s failed to capitalise on their first-half dominance at the Mornflake Stadium, with some poor finishing marring their efforts until a scrappy finish by substitute Ciaron Brown in the 64th minute secured three points.

The club was hit hard by news of the death of former favourite Joey Beauchamp at the weekend and boss Robinson says this Saturday’s home derby clash with Cambridge will offer an opportunity to remember the homegrown forward.

Robinson said: “It was an emotionally difficult game and also a physically difficult one as Crewe hadn’t played on Saturday.

“They had the luck in the first half because of our poor finishing, but when Crewe hit the bar in the second half that was typical of the bad luck you get when you are down there.

“In the end we celebrated that win more than any game we have won this season.

“When you are winning games of football little things drop for you, and it was a great finish from Ciaron.”

On the planned tribute to Beauchamp, Robinson added: “The game on Saturday against Cambridge is just about Joey. It’s been hard after the news we received after the game last Saturday. It has been difficult for everyone involved at the football club, but the fans came out in their hundreds tonight and it was a testament to them.”

Matty Taylor lifted a first-half header over, while Gavin Whyte produced an erratic finish after bursting clear.

Sam Baldock was also wasteful when he blazed over from close range, and when Chris Long drove an effort onto the underside of the crossbar shortly after the break, it was the start of a spirited response from Crewe.

David Artell’s side may have lost seven successive games and are now 10 points adrift of safety, but they stayed in the game and posed a threat, with academy scholar Connor Salisbury going close to an equaliser late on after coming off the bench.

But the Railwaymen possess the third worst defensive record in Sky Bet League One and it was not hard to see why when they had several chances to clear the ball before defender Brown pulled a shot through a crowd of players for the only goal of the game.

Artell said: “I thought we did enough to win that game. I think we are getting there slowly but we’ve got to maintain that level against others teams that are not as good as Oxford are.

“They started off really well but then I thought it was even for the rest of the first half and we were on top for all of the second half.

“All through the game we gave it a right good go and on another day we would have got three points. It’s a cruel game but Oxford are top scorers in the league – the most crosses and the most corners – and I thought at the start we were in for a long night.

“If we do that well we will be beat other teams. We’ve not been out of the games, but we’ve got to start winning games of football.”