MATTY Taylor made no apologies for celebrating his double against former side Bristol Rovers as he secured a 2-0 win for Oxford United.

The striker netted in each half to see the U’s home in their first Sky Bet League One game for three weeks, as they climbed to 11th and stretched their unbeaten run to ten matches.

Taylor is now the division’s joint third-highest scorer with 11 goals after sinking Rovers, where he enjoyed a prolific spell from 2014 to 2017.

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Players often tone it down when they find the net against former clubs, but the 30-year-old from Kidlington felt no need to play it cool.

“You know I love scoring goals,” he said.

“I’ve scored against Oxford, Forest Green (another former club) and now Rovers and I’ll always celebrate.

“I still hold the club in the highest regard, I had a very successful time there, scored a lot of goals and won promotion.

“I don’t know whether the fans in the stadium affect the celebration, but I play for Oxford United now.

“As an Oxford lad it means so much scoring every goal.

“That’s something that will never change.”

The U’s showed signs of rustiness in the early stages of their first match for 11 days, but restricted their opponents to few chances as they ground out victory.

United looked threatening from set-pieces and Taylor volleyed home following a corner just after the half-hour mark.

The striker gave United breathing space with 17 minutes left when he beat goalkeeper Joe Day one-on-one, but he revealed the finish was tougher than it looked.

Read also: Player ratings from Oxford United's win over Bristol Rovers

He said: “I’m normally bad at those ones, especially when you’re on the right side of the goalie and can’t bend it around him.

“He shut off the angle, I took a touch wide and he stayed on his feet.

“You start wondering and the hundreds of solutions of how to get it in the goal start minimising.

“It was my only option and it was nice to see it fly in.”

Taylor’s hopes of a hat-trick were thwarted when head coach Karl Robinson brought him off three minutes later, with Sam Winnall coming on in his place.

“We’ve got a massive squad and it was almost premeditated to add the extra energy into the game,” Taylor said.

“I’ll have to score a third earlier next time.”