Northampton moved out of the Sky Bet League One relegation zone with a vital 1-0 victory over Oxford.

Sam Hoskins scored the only goal of the game early in the second half as the Cobblers claimed their third win from four home games to move two points above the bottom four and dent Oxford’s play-off hopes.

Oxford were convinced they had taken a fourth-minute lead when Rob Atkinson’s header appeared very close to crossing the line before being scrambled away.

Atkinson also saw a shot deflected wide but Northampton grew into the game and went close themselves when Mark Marshall’s shot hit a post and Ryan Watson put the rebound into the side netting.

Jonathan Mitchell tipped Daniel Agyei’s effort around a post but Northampton went ahead 10 minutes into the second half when Hoskins latched on to Danny Rose’s flick-on and picked out the bottom corner.

Oxford were out of sorts and struggled to respond, creating only one half chance late on as captain Elliott Moore headed wide from a corner.