Oxford United went out of the Emirates FA Cup in an extraordinary cup tie at the Memorial Stadium last night.
Three goals in the last ten minutes of extra time gave Bristol Rovers a 4-3 win and a home tie against Sutton United in the second round, leaving U’s boss Karl Robinson frustrated but also magnanimous in defeat.
“It was a great game of football and credit to Bristol Rovers for winning it. As you can imagine I am fuming over certain aspects of our game but from our point of view, moving forward, Wigan who we play on Saturday have also gone to extra time, we have got all the minutes we wanted to in to players’ legs and we had some really good moments in the game.
“There are a number of things we can be frustrated with; some of their goals you take your hat off and say well played - the first and third goals were wonderful strikes -but others weren’t acceptable from us. So we will look at that, we will wish Rovers well in the next round, and then we will work towards another big game away at Wigan at the weekend.
“Over the two games we have been 2-1 up and 3-1 up and not got the next goal to put the games absolutely to bed, without being disrespectful to the opposition. But tonight when they are kicking towards their fans here you know you are vulnerable if they get a goal back.
“I want to thank the stewards as well, their control of the situation at the end was very good so everyone could feel safe and we could go and thank our fans. But like I said, we are frustrated, not happy at all, but let’s get going again, let’s go up north and let’s get ready for Wigan on Saturday.”
See the full interview plus further reaction from John Mousinho, all in iFollow