Grays boss Julian Dicks was unhappy that a foul was not given when Matt Green outjumped keeper Preston Edwards and the ball for James Constable to score Oxford United’s second goal.

“You could see it was a foul,” Dicks claimed.

“The referee bowed to pressure and it affected the team.

“We were playing good football and not getting the breaks. It was a test and some of our players came up short.”

But, like most of the crowd, U’s boss Chris Wilder said he couldn’t see a foul by Green, and it was a perfectly legitimate goal.

“Greeny’s just gone up and challenged him and had his eyes on the ball and has only seen the ball,” he said. “I didn’t see anything wrong.”

And Constable's opening goal, a simple header from Jamie Cook’s free-kick, also gave him pleasure.

“We had worked on dead-ball moves for an hour on Friday. It is great when a plan comes off,” he said.