DES Buckingham praised the impact of his wingers after Oxford United came back late on to beat Cheltenham Town.

One of those wingers, Josh Murphy, gave United the lead in first half stoppage time, however Will Ferry found a Robins equaliser with 10 minutes to go.

The U’s looked for an immediate way to get back in front, and found it with two minutes to play, when Greg Leigh headed in Owen Dale’s cross.

The win followed United’s defeat at Sky Bet League One leaders Portsmouth last weekend, a game which Buckingham’s side were unfortunate not to take all three points from.

U’s head coach Buckingham said: “We came away from Portsmouth after playing extremely well, with nothing to show for it in terms of points, and we’ve now come away from here with an important win at an important time of the year.

“Cheltenham are a very different team to Portsmouth. They’ve got a different way they want to play and pose different challenges to us.

“They play five at the back, and near enough four in midfield, and make it very difficult for you to get in their half and create anything in the final third.

“Sometimes you have to be patient and do things a little bit quicker, and it’s not as free-flowing as the Portsmouth game, where they’re a little more open because they want to come out and attack you.

“You have to be patient at times, and I think we showed that, and maybe there are a couple of things we should’ve done better.

“I thought in the last 10 or 15 minutes in the first half, we came good, and in the second half, we were in control, and started to sit a little bit too deep for my liking as the game progressed, but then we got a deserved winner towards the end.”

Leigh’s winner came following tenacious work from wide man Dale, who got to the right-hand byline and dinked a cross to the back post, where Leigh nodded in.

Buckingham said: “I wouldn’t like to play against Owen. He works tirelessly the whole game.

“He’s one of the few players I’ve seen in this league that are able to dribble at pace. Tyler Goodrham is a very similar type of player.

“He drags you in, to then go past you. Owen was very good, but when you’ve got pace and quality on the wings, with Owen and Murph on the other side, it mixes things up.”