Josh Murphy's first goal of the season, Cameron Brannagan's 50th goal for the club, and goals from substitutes Ruben Rodrigues and Tyler Goodham extended Oxford United's unbeaten run to four games this evening as they came from behind to beat Wigan Athletic 4-2 at the Kassam Stadium.
Trailing to a Jordan Jones opener, the U's hit back to level through Murphy in time added on at the end of the first half before Brannagan blasted them in front and Rodrigues capitalised on a moment of impish magic from Goodrham, who then thumped home a fourth in injury time to secure an important three points that lifted them back into the play-off places, despite a towering header from Thelo Aasgaard to keep things interesting in the final stages.
United mixed things up after three draws in a row, with Owen Dale and Murphy providing the width and Jay Matete adding bite in midfield. That allowed Cameron Brannagan to play in a more advanced role, and he looked the most likely to score in the first half hour. First, a thunderous early free kick was touched wide by the covering Aasgaard to give the Wigan player a thor head and leave Brannagan unloki. Brannagan then went even closer to breaking the deadlock when Marcus McGuane set the ball back and he powered a shot against the right-hand post with keeper Sam Tickle beaten.
It was far from one way traffic though in an entertaining game, and Wigan had chances of their own. Jamie Cumming made a routine save from a Luke Chambers effort and the tricky Martial Godo went close after half an hour as United waited for him.
What the game needed was a goal, and the final five minutes of the first half produced one at each end. First, five minutes before the break, Jones knocked the ball past Sam Long and fired across keeper Cumming to give the visitors a goal advantage.
Had they held on then who knows, but deep into injury time Murphy sprinted down the left wing and waited for Greg Leigh to come round his outside. Two covering defenders edged out to get to Leigh and Murphy surprised them by shooting instead, arrowing a low effort inside the far post with a deflection taking it beyond even the reach of the long arms of Tickle.
Now United had their tails up and went for the win. Ten minutes into the second half they were ahead when Sam Long skipped into the penalty area and turned down two invitations to shoot. Instead, he knew that Brannagan would be lurking on the edge of the box and the midfield talisman's low drive flew past the wrongfooted Tickle via a deflection off the covering Matt Smith.
Wigan came at United with more purpose from then on, but Elliott Moore and Ciaron Brown were a formidable barrier, and when they did get close to goal, a Josh Magennis header came back off the post, hit Cumming and rolled out for a corner rather than into the net.
Two minutes later and, having ridden their luck, United had a two-goal cushion when Goodrham first lifted the ball over a retreating defender, then skipped round him one way then the other before cracking a shot against the right-hand post. Rodrigues was in the right place and it was 3-1.
Again, Wigan came forward, and with ten minutes left what had appeared a formality became a nervous ending as the impressive Aasgaard powered a Smith cross past the helpless Cumming to make it 3-2 and give the travelling Latics fans hope. Cumming denied Chambers, Magennis guided a header wide, and United settled it in the 95th minute when Mark Harris danced into a shooting position, saw his effort blocked and Goodrham slammed the ball into the roof of the net to cap a very impressive performance from the rampant U's.
An excellent night's work. Strap yourself in, things are about to get exciting. See you at Wycombe on Saturday...
Attendance: 7,320 including 278 away
Polythene UK Fifty/50 winning number 119615 wins £734.50
Report by Chris Williams, pictures Steve Edmunds, Steve Daniels, Darrell Fisher and JasonPix