Oxford head coach Gary Rowett believes his players had to display a gutsier side in picking up a 1-0 victory over his former club Millwall.
It was Rowett’s first return to The Den after departing 14 months ago and he made it three wins from three games since taking charge of the U’s, who recorded their first away win since April last season.
Ruben Rodrigues’ goal earned Oxford the first three points on their travels in the second tier since March 1999 and it spoiled for Millwall what was their first match under new boss Alex Neil.
Rowett said: “It was really gutsy and that was the pleasing thing, particularly this season, the team haven’t won away from home.
“Sometimes you have to show different sides to your game in the Championship.
“First half we started a little bit tentatively, I wanted us to try and keep the ball just so we limited, in Alex’s first game, that intensity, that pressure in pinning us in and making it difficult for us.
“I thought we did it at times OK, we got a bit bogged down, but as the half went on, we started to look a little more dangerous.
“Second half was probably who was going to get a goal and then have the opportunity to sit in and defend it.
“It was a good goal, I thought we used Chemmy [Przemyslaw Placheta] really well today, I thought he caused Joe Bryan a few problems and he did it for the goal.”
Millwall came close to taking the lead after 25 minutes when Mihailo Ivanovic’s crisp volley was well saved by Jamie Cumming.
What proved to be Oxford’s winner came in the 57th minute when Rodrigues’ header from Placheta’s cross found the net despite Murray Wallace’s efforts on the line.
Neil, appointed on Monday, said: “I learned a lot in the fact we’ve not been the type of team who dominates the ball, and you can see that, and you can hear that.
“The minute we were maybe making two or three passes along the back, there was a little bit of agitation in the crowd.
“I think for all the volume, our opportunities we had in wide areas, I looked at the stats and we had double the amount of final-third entries, we had double the amount of touches in the box, but we just didn’t have that killer instinct to get the goal when we needed it.
“You could see the disappointment in the lads after the game, where we’ve lost a match.
“I didn’t think it was a poor performance, I thought there were some really good bits to like about it, but there’s certainly stuff for us to work on.”
