KARL Robinson was thrilled with Oxford United's reaction to Plymouth Argyle's equaliser as they secured an important win to boost their play-off ambitions.

The U's had controlled the first half and led through an own goal by visiting captain Joe Edwards, but their opponents were better after the restart and levelled through Niall Ennis.

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It took United just four minutes to regain their lead, Matty Taylor finishing from close range before adding his second late on.

Their play-off rivals have games in hand, but the U's end the evening fifth in Sky Bet League One after other results went their way.

It followed United's 2-1 defeat at AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday, when they conceded at a similar time.

Unlike at Plough Lane they still had 11 men on the pitch after Plymouth's equaliser, but Robinson was delighted to see them bounce back from the goal.

The U's head coach said: “They deserved that goal, but I thought the players responded really well to them pegging us back.

"We were going to make a change (before the equaliser), but we thought maybe there will be a natural flow in the game because they’ve started so well.

"It’s three points, we were very convincing, and three more goals scored at home.

"It just shows how important those six goals were (at Crewe) because we’ve pegged back the likes of Blackpool because of our goal difference.

"I’m over the moon, there’ll be a lot of happy Oxford fans tonight.”

Taylor's double made it 17 goals for the season for United's top scorer, equalling his tally for 2019/20.

The striker earlier saw a close-range header saved by Plymouth goalkeeper Mark Cooper in the first half, while Rob Atkinson, Mide Shodipo and Mark Sykes also spurned good opportunities before the break.

Robinson had few complaints about the overall performance, but admitted the U's should have taken their chances.

"They deserved their goal, but I thought we deserved a clearer gap than what we had at half-time," he said.

“He (Taylor) scores goals at important times, he should’ve scored a header in the first half as well.

"I thought the midfield was excellent, I thought Sykes and the lads in there really tried hard.

"Dan (Agyei) showed glimpses of power, pace and energy."