Karl Robinson hailed his Oxford players after their late 2-1 win at Shrewsbury.

The U’s kept up their promotion push with an impressive fifth win in six games.

Goal machine Matty Taylor opened the scoring with his 21st goal of the season, before Ryan Bowman levelled with his first strike since Boxing Day.

But Cameron Brannagan won it from the spot with eight minutes to go.

Three Oxford players were struck down with Covid within 48 hours of the game.

And Robinson said: “This was a fantastic win, this game was a real worry for me. We had to perform.

“It takes us to 68 points with eight games to go – it’s a really strong position but we’ve not done anything yet.

“My players are a bit under the weather in there. There are a few sniffles and colds as you can imagine.

“They put everything into the game and what a wonderful win.

“Rotherham came here and drew, Sheffield Wednesday got beat here because of the energy of the opposition.

“We rode our luck at times but that’s part of football, we’re absolutely ecstatic in the dressing room.

“It’s a brilliant win and we’re absolutely over the moon.

“We certainly would have settled for a point. It’s a tough place to come.

“But it’s great to keep the momentum up. Cameron’s taken it well, there was a lot of pressure.”

Steve Cotterill’s side have won just one of their last 12 games.

And the boss said: “It’s a tough one to take.

“It won’t be just me who thinks we should have got more from the game.

“I think we should have at least gone in at half-time all square.

“We didn’t play as well in the first half as we did in the second half.

“I think if we’d have put a performance akin to the second half in the first half then I think we’d have won the game.

“We just didn’t do it in the first half. I think there was a stronger wind out there than it appears and maybe that had a part in it.

“We did enough to win the game in the second half, let alone draw it. So to lose it is bitterly disappointing.

“The lads put in a fantastic shift like they always do so it’s hard for them.”