Oxford boss Karl Robinson was rewarded for his attacking approach as his side eased to a 3-0 win against promotion rivals Doncaster.

Two goals from Matty Taylor and one from Olamide Shodipo before half-time put United in total control.

Victory saw the hosts close the gap on their opponents to three points in the race for a League One play-off place.

Robinson said: “We felt tonight was a good time to take the handbrake off and have a real go – and it worked for us.

“Doncaster have a lot of quality in their team, so there was a risk in doing it. But when you go three up at half-time – and we also hit the post once and had a couple skim the post…

“The players’ performance was outstanding – and Liam Kelly’s was one of the best performances you’ll see at this level.

“It puts to bed the stat of us not beating a top six club.

“It was very important to have Matty Taylor back among the goals again. And it just looked like the Matty Taylor of old after the rest he’s had.

“And Brandon Barker’s performance for 60 minutes – wow! Not just with the ball, but out of possession too he was terrific.

“If anyone asks how my team is and how I like my team to play, that was it – with pressing, and being aggressive, and good in using the ball.

“It was really pleasing and puts us right in the mix. How long can we keep going like that with the handbrake off, who knows?”

Doncaster boss Andy Butler admitted he was a bit shell-shocked after the first 45 minutes.

Butler said: “If you make the mistakes we made tonight of course you’re going to get punished.

“The average age of our team was very young today, but we had experienced professionals who should have helped them out.

“We just lost some key one v one battles tonight, and that really disappointed me.

“The positive for me is that we’re still making chances – we’re just not being clinical in the final third.

“We actually started the game well, with a few shots and chances, but it was very disappointing to be down 3-0 at half-time.

“I asked the players to put in a performance in the second half and at least they did that.”

Rovers remain in the play-off places, but have lost five successive away games.

Butler added: “We’ve still got a long part of the season to go and we’re still in a fantastic position. We’ve just got to make sure we take advantage of it.

“So I’m not going to dwell on this. We’ll put it behind us and move on.

“The number of injuries we have had has had an effect on us. My squad is not at full strength at the moment, but I’ll still go with what I’ve got and do what we can.

“And I thought young Brandon Horton was excellent, coming on for his debut and putting in a very good performance.”