MALCOLM Shotton delivered another "hands-off" message to any Premier-ship club thinking of moving in for Joey Beau-champ after the winger struck two more brilliant goals at the Manor Ground last night.

Oxford United's manager said bluntly: "Of course people are starting to take notice, but he's going nowhere.

"I've had tentative offers but before those clubs even start talking, it's 'no chance'.

"We don't need to sell him, he's happy here and we need him to make this football club bigger and better."

Beauchamp struck two quality goals as United despatched local rivals Reading 3-0 in a competitive local derby which saw six players booked.

His second was a breathtaking mid-air scissor kick - on a par with his 30-yard free kick goal against Stoke last Saturday.

It took his tally to four goals in the last three games - all of them United wins - and 18 for the season.

"A return of 18 goals for a striker is a good return. For a wide player, it's magnificent," said Shotton.

The U's boss added: "The dressing room is magic at the moment. Everybody's bubbling. "The lads were excellent. With it being a derby, the first half was going to be a battle but we have a habit of scoring in the 44th minute and then killing teams off in the second half.

"But we've got a real passion to win games and winning's a great habit to have."

The result put Reading in deeper trouble at the bottom with just eight games left.

Royals' boss Terry Bullivant believed a second-half injury to his on-loan goalkeeper Nick Colgan was the turning point.

"We didn't get out of our half with Nick's injury. I couldn't bring him off because we didn't have a sub keeper."

Bullivant mused: "Joey Beauchamp seemed to just come out of nowhere."

Midfielder Martin Gray, who hit United's third goal, said: "Any derby is good to win but it was a great team performance. We outbattled them.

"We've got to 50 points now which takes the pressure off, and we've won seven out of 11. If you did that over the season, that's promotion form.

"More and more we're expressing ourselves on the ball - and that's down to confidence."

Victory lifted Oxford above Swindon and into the top half of Division 1 for the first time proper in this campaign.

Shotton declared: "I'd like us to get a couple more results and then we can start looking a bit towards next season."

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