Oxford United managed to pick up an important 2-1 win away from home at Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night as they moved into fifth place in the League One table.

Karl Robinson’s side went into the game aiming to stretch their unbeaten run in the league to eight matches since their loss against Plymouth Argyle in mid-October. They were able to do that and more against a Doncaster side that are without a manager at the moment after the departure of Richie Wellens and who are in serious danger of relegation this season.

It was not a comfortable win though for the Us and they had to rely on James Henry to fire home a late winning goal to take all three points from the game. The victory moves Oxford up to 5th place in the table and they are five points adrift of Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers at the top of the league.

With all that in mind, we take a look at THREE things we clearly learnt about Oxford following their win against Doncaster…

Oxford showing promotion-winning mentality with late show

These are the games against sides struggling at the bottom of the league that teams have to win if they are going to go on and seriously challenge for promotion at the end of the season. Against Doncaster, Oxford dominated the first half but they had just one goal to show for their efforts and it looked as though that would come back to haunt them when the hosts drew level 16 minutes from full time.

However, Oxford were able to show the right mentality of never giving up on the game and feeling sorry for themselves. Henry’s winning goal was a moment of quality with his effort from 20-yards finding the net and those are the sort of moments that successful sides manage to dig out in the closing stages of games right when it hurts opposing teams the most.

The Us have drawn a lot of matches in league and cup in recent weeks, but against Doncaster, it was a case of only a win really being good enough. They were able to grind out the three points in the end and that is the sort of thing they are going to have to continue to do if they are to successfully challenge for promotion to the Championship.

 

 

Robinson shows excellent man-management with James Henry impact

Considering Henry has usually been a regular starter for Oxford in League One in recent weeks, it was something of a surprise to see him sat on the bench for the trip to Doncaster on Tuesday. However, after the game Robinson revealed that he had been hoping by bringing him on he could have a greater impact on the game as he did recently in the win against Sheffield Wednesday.

In the end, Henry got to feature for the second 45 minutes with him coming on for Cameron Brannagan and the 32-year-old had a major impact on the game when he cracked home the winning goal towards the end of the contest. That effort underlined the quality that he brings to the side and maybe it shows he can be an excellent impact option to have off the bench in certain games.

Robinson revealed after the game that Henry was disappointed not to start against Doncaster, but he responded in the right way when he got the chance to come off the bench. That shows that the Oxford boss got it spot on with how to best manage the 32-year-old.

Robinson’s changes payoff for Oxford

Following Oxford’s disappointing second half display in their 1-1 draw at Sunderland on Saturday, Robinson indicated that he was ready to make changes to the side to freshen things up for the trip to Doncaster. Therefore, it was no surprise to see him make a number of alterations to the starting line-up ahead of the trip to the Keepmoat Stadium.

The likes of Jordan Thorniley, Steve Seddon, Marcus McGuane and Mark Sykes all came into the side and made an impact for the Us to help them secure all three points against Doncaster. Sykes was able to hand the Us the lead early on and the other three players all contributed to the overall effective display from Robinson’s side.

The fact that those changes worked for Oxford shows that Robinson is getting his decisions spot on at the moment and there is a reason why he has been nominated for the Manager of the Month award for November. If he can continue to get the maximum out of his squad then Oxford have a real chance of challenging the top two.