JAMES Henry dedicated Oxford United’s “perfect” away performance at Plymouth Argyle to the two players who suffered long-term injuries.

The trip to Home Park was United’s first since discovering skipper Curtis Nelson and Rob Hall face lengthy spells in the treatment room.

And the pair were mentioned in the moments before the game, which the U’s won 4-0.

Henry said: “Obviously it’s really disappointing to lose anyone in the squad, especially key players for us.

“We all said in the huddle before the game ‘let’s do it for them’ – it’s not nice for anyone to have long-term injuries.

“It gave us that little bit of an extra kick to push on and win the game.”

It was a terrific way to end a six-match winless run.

United were in the box seat early on, with Ryan Edwards sent off for conceding a penalty, which was scored by Ryan Ledson in the 15th minute.

Argyle threatened before the break, but the visitors swept them aside in a second half when Wes Thomas, Henry and Jon Obika all found the net.

Henry, who also hit the crossbar, thought it surpassed the display from their 4-1 victory at Peterborough United in September.

He said: “It was like that, but I think we were even better.

“We got the ball moving and exploited the space when we could. It was the perfect away performance.”

The hosts felt Edwards should only have been cautioned for the foul on Thomas which conceded the penalty.

With the Home Park crowd on referee Graham Horwood’s back, there was always the risk Plymouth could be awarded a spot-kick of their own.

But Henry, who survived a handball appeal late in the first half, thought the officials deserved a lot of credit.

He said: “I know referees try not to even it up, but the crowd can play a big factor in that and emotions can get the better of some refs, but he was brilliant.

“Whether it was a red card or not was debatable, but he didn’t make a clear attempt to go for the ball because Wes was in front of him. I guess from that point of view it was a red.

“Sometimes as players and fans we can be critical of referees but they have such a hard job.

“We have to give them praise when they have a good game as well.”