Des Buckingham says Oxford win over Fleetwood the best performance of his tenure

Oxford boss Des Buckingham felt his team’s showing was as good as he has seen since taking charge last November as they flailed Fleetwood 4-0 at the Kassam Stadium for their biggest win of the season.

The U’s had the match in the bag by half-time as Cameron Brannagan, Mark Harris and Owen Dale put them three up by the break, with Harris adding his second seven minutes from time.

Buckingham said: “That probably was the best 90 minutes we’ve had, with everything, since I’ve been here.

“Actually, we have played as well as that the last couple of games, just not scored the goals.

“It was very good, to play like that, score four goals and keep a clean sheet was just about perfect.

“But the main thing was to get the win to make sure we’re on track to be where we want to be.

“We showed the type of football we want to play and getting that vital second goal was so important for us today.

“We can’t get carried away with it – we now need to take this on to Burton in the next match, but certainly the clean sheet is very pleasing, especially for Jamie Cumming and the back four.

“The two goals for Mark Harris is massive – it takes him into double figures. And though I don’t know what target he had set himself for the season, he must be getting close to it.

“It was important he played 90 minutes for us with Will Goodwin not ready for today, and I’m delighted he’s got two goals.

“It’s really good too to see Josh Murphy seemingly enjoying his football, and showing consistently what a good player he is.

“Wingers’ end products sometimes lets them down, but Josh has really worked on that, and is reaping the rewards.

“I am delighted for our fans here that we have put on that showing at home. We’ve played very well away but it’s nice to do it at home in front of over 8,000 supporters.”

Fleetwood Town manager Charlie Adam was furious with his team’s showing, which leaves them six points off safety with just five games to go..

He said: “I’m embarrassed. That’s as bad as it’s been.

“There’s no hiding away from it – that was an embarrassment.

“This club has been in this division for a long, long time.

“People need to run hard, fight for the jersey, fight for the town and fight for these supporters.

“That was not there today in my team and I’m not going to accept it.

“I’ve told the lads in the dressing room that it’s unacceptable.

“Our supporters travelled a long, long way and paid a lot of money to come here, and we produced that sort of performance.

“It won’t happen from now until the end of the season.

“We didn’t run hard enough today and we didn’t get close enough to people.

“We allowed Oxford to dominate the game.

“Putting in the hard work and the hard yards, really wanting to fight – I didn’t see that today and it’s hugely disappointing.”