MICHAEL Appleton admitted Oxford United were long overdue a late winner as what looked like a fourth consecutive draw was turned into three points by Tyrone Barnett’s 90th-minute header.

It sealed a 2-1 victory over Bury, who had taken the lead against the run of play.

The visitors did not have a shot on target for 63 minutes, until the move from which Danny Mayor scored.

It was not the first time this season United had found themselves behind after controlling a game, but Craig Jones’s own goal levelled the scores before Barnett provided the thrilling finish.

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Appleton, United’s head coach, said: “I think we’ve been on the wrong end of a lot of scores this year.

“I know any manager can come out and say that, but I like to think I’m quite honest and if we’ve been (deservedly) beaten I’ll take it on the chin.

“But we’ve lost games where we should’ve had at least a draw and we’ve had a lot of draws we should have turned into wins.

“It looked like it might be another one of those days, but luckily (there was) a bit of quality from Wes and a good finish from Tyrone.

“It’s been a long time coming.

“We’ve been good this year at home, we’ve played some really good stuff and finally we get a bit of reward for it.”

The attendance at the Kassam Stadium was boosted by two free ticket initiatives which brought thousands of extra spectators.

Appleton thanked them for their support.

He said: “It was great to see some extra faces in the stadium and long may that continue.

“We want to try and entertain the fans and I’d like to think we have a team that can do that.

“Hopefully they will keep coming back.”

Bury boss David Flitcroft, was deeply frustrated his side had played a major part in both United’s goals.

He said: “They’ve not had to earn the result, we’ve given them two.

“You’ve got to have that killer instincts to see a game out – even at 1-1 we’ve not respected the point.”

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