Delight for Martin as Dons finally win in the league again

Joe Mason scored the only goal of the game on the hour mark after twice coming close in the first half as Dons ended a 12-game stretch without a win in the league, while ending Oxford's 11-game undefeated streak in the process.

After a win in the Leasing.com Trophy against Coventry City, and a draw at Doncaster last week, manager Russell Martin was delighted to have finally got a league win under his belt.

"I'm extremely proud and happy, and obviously relieved," he said. "I'm so proud of the players for giving us in the position we're in. It takes a lot of courage, conviction and belief to play the way we are, and to do that against a team who are so many games unbeaten is a testament to the characters we have. It has been coming, we all felt it and we deserved it.

"And if we can get better in the final third, we could have had two or three. That would have been the icing on the cake."

Late goals were a source of concern for the manager, after conceding in the final five minutes six times in 12 games. Martin continued: "We had less anxiety today, I felt much more comfortable for the last 20 minutes. Teams will have spells when momentum swings, but we were superb.

"In a few weeks, if that scenario comes up again, we'll take one of those chances. That's where we need to get to, scoring that second goal and it's job done."