'It's a sign' - Gary Rowett makes Sheffield United admission after Oxford victory
Sheffield United picked up their first Championship win of the season on Saturday, beating Oxford United 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium.
Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett admitted he experienced a feeling of frustration following his side’s 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
At the seventh time of asking, the Blades secured their maiden Championship victory of the season via a second half winner from Callum O’Hare.
After some terrific work down the right from Ipswich Town loanee Chiedozie Ogbene, his cross found its way through to the former Coventry City man and he drilled a low shot past Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming to claim his first goal of the season.
After struggling to create chances in the first half, the Blades improved after the break and O’Hare’s 65th-minute strike proved decisive, ending their seven-game losing run in league and cup.
Oxford pushed for an equaliser in the closing stages, retaining aspirations of extending their unbeaten run to four matches, but they were unable to find a way past Michael Cooper in the Blades’ goal. As a result, Rowett was somewhat frustrated with the outcome.
What Rowett said after United’s win on the road
He told BBC Radio Oxford: "When you play against a team like Sheffield United - we know where they are in the league, we know they're not at the most confident or been at their best - but they've still got a very good squad, still got very good players.
"I think it's a sign of respect in some ways that they came, set up almost, it felt like, to go and frustrate us and maybe nick a point or maybe get something on the break.
"I thought we limited them to very, very little. First half was, again, another really, really good performance - maybe a little bit of quality in the last action wasn't quite there - but I thought it was a really dominant first-half performance.
"Second half we knew, perhaps, it would be a little more even, but what you can't do is you can't allow one moment, one ball, three in the box, takes as touch, finds the corner, and we didn't have that luxury.
"It feels like we keep leaving the door ajar for teams to get something out of the game where maybe it should be a 0-0 - we're frustrated, we don't take our chances, but we go away with something."