Karl Robinson hails ‘sensational’ Oxford as unbeaten run continues

Oxford boss Karl Robinson thought his team were “sensational” in the opening 40 minutes of their 3-0 win against Rochdale.

Josh Ruffels and Tariqe Fosu scored in the opening 27 minutes and Dale then had Aaron Wilbraham sent off for a bad challenge on Fosu.

In a very one-sided contest, substitute Sam Long then added a third for the U’s four minutes from time, following up a James Henry drive which had been parried by over-worked goalkeeper Jay Lynch.

Robinson said: “I thought we were excellent. In fact, in the first 40 minutes we were sensational. The intent with which we played was superb.

“We were very good, especially when you think we also had to contend with losing Cameron Brannagan to a knee injury at half-time and Chris Cadden to a hamstring injury after 50 or so minutes.

“When I first walked into this club I knew we had some great characters and Sam Long is one of those. To score a goal here will mean a lot to him.

“And a pleasing thing for me is that Rob Hall’s now not far off the player we know he can be.

“The difficult thing for me is…’can I keep all these players fit?’

“But I’m pleased for our supporters. Our fans will all go home very satisfied with what they have seen.”

It was Oxford’s fourth successive 3-0 home league win and stretched their unbeaten run to eight games.

Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy said: “It was a difficult day for us.

“Aaron’s sending-off had a huge bearing on the game. We conceded two goals from set pieces, which is not like us.

“We wanted to stay in the game as long as possible and then provide a counter-attacking threat which, to be fair, we never really did.

“I was very proud of the way we defended, though, against a team that have run up big scores in the second half of games.

“My initial reaction was that it was never a sending-off. But I fully understand the referee’s decision and have sympathy with him that he maybe thought at the time the player was out of control and that he had to act.

“We have been in great form before this and we are building our form and confidence and we want to keep doing that in the weeks ahead.”

U’s boss Robinson said he will assess the injuries to Brannagan and Cadden before deciding on his team for Tuesday’s big Carabao Cup tie against Sunderland – where the winners go through to the competition’s quarter-finals.