Oxford head coach Liam Manning praised his players for digging in despite not being at their best after their 3-0 win over Exeter lifted them up to second place in League One.
Ruben Rodrigues headed in Kyle Edwards’ cross in the eighth minute before Cameron Brannagan sealed victory with two late penalties following fouls on Rodrigues and then Josh Murphy by City captain Will Aimson.
Manning said: “I was pleased most of all with the clean sheet.
“I’m delighted with the players.
“On a day when we didn’t manage the game like we’d want to, we showed a different side, in being able to block and being
able to defend well.
“Sometimes there’s a little bit of snobbery in football around what it should look like and what people want to see. Across the course of a season you’re never always going to play at the highest level you can.
“I’ve just said to the players, it’s a nice feeling to not necessarily be as we were in other games but win. Against Cambridge and Port Vale we played well but ended up losing the game.
“You have different experiences with the group and manage it in a different way. We could have controlled the ball better, but we showed a great togetherness and a great resilience.
“And the physicality – I thought the physical output was outstanding, which is credit to them and the staff for the work that’s done every day. You can only put in a shift like that if you’re in peak condition and train properly.
“I’m proud of the players because I thought they really showed what they are about as a group and as people.
“I feel the group are growing. The lads have such a respect for each other.
“For me it felt like quite a big moment in terms of finding a different way to win which in the past we maybe haven’t done. That shows the progress in the game.
“I don’t think Exeter created loads of chances. The keeper’s made a couple of good saves, but for all the ball they had, a lot of it was in areas where we controlled the game.
“Analysing the chances that were created in the game, it was definitely us who had the greater threat.
“There isn’t a player in League One I would trust more to take penalties than Cameron Brannagan. I feel so confident when he steps up and his record speaks for itself.
“And Ruben got his first goal for us today – it’s important to get goals from different areas.”
Yanic Wildschut’s fierce angled shot which came back off a post was as close as Exeter came and manager Gary Caldwell felt his side lacked a cutting edge.
He said: “I’m disappointed with the result.
“We got off to a poor start and gave away a really bad goal, which made it difficult.
“We controlled the rest of the first half without creating too many opportunities, although Yanic had a great chance, but it was a brilliant save off the post.
“Second half we were in total control, but we didn’t penetrate enough or create enough chances.
“The longer the game went on, we left ourselves vulnerable to counter-attacks which Oxford punished us with.
“It’s a game we need to learn from, but overall I didn’t think it was a 3-0 game. There were moments that went against us and we have to dust ourselves down and go again.
“The team were excellent in training for this match, but we were playing without a recognised number nine, which gave us a problem.
“That was probably why we looked a bit toothless at times.
“I can’t fault the team’s effort – we just didn’t have the understanding or intensity in the final third to make things happen and turn it into goals.
“At 1-0 down, if we could have scored, we were very much in the ascendancy at that point.
“We left ourselves open to counter-attacks and Oxford scored two penalties from those situations.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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