Brian De Keersmaecker made one goal and scored another as Oxford upset the form book with a 3-1 Championship victory at high-riding Bristol City.
The visitors took a 19th-minute lead when De Keersmaecker delivered a curling free-kick from the right and Nik Prelec timed his run perfectly to power a header past goalkeeper Radek Vitek from a central position just outside the six-yard box.
It was 2-0 in first-half stoppage time as a hotly-disputed corner from the right was cleared into the path of Przemyslaw Placheta, whose sweetly-struck left-footed shot from 25 yards found the top corner.
Anis Mehmeti matched Placheta’s effort with a brilliant right-footed strike from distance for City in the 53rd minute, which went in off the underside of the crossbar.
But the final minute of normal time saw De Keersmaecker send another free-kick into the box from the left, which curled past Vitek without anyone getting a touch.
City were unchanged from the 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday in their previous game, but had to make a switch after just 15 minutes when centre-back Rob Atkinson was forced off by injury and replaced by George Tanner.
Oxford United climbed out of the Championship relegation zone with victory over the Robins
Oxford had made the faster start, with Prelec, making the first start of his season-long loan from Cagliari, denied by a smothering save by Vitek after five minutes. Sam Long fired over from distance as the Robins were hurried into passing errors.
Ross McCrorie headed over for the hosts and Emil Riis shot high and wide from a Mehmeti pass before Prelec broke the deadlock. But Vitek was in action again to save a Will Lankshear volley as Oxford continued to threaten.
Long produced a goal-saving tackle to deny Mehmeti a 26th-minute equaliser and Brodie Spencer cleared an inswinging corner off the line to the delight of Oxford fans. Then Riis shot wide when put clear by a Rob Dickie through-ball.
The dangerous Placheta caused City problems down Oxford’s right and it was fitting that he should have the final say of the first half with a stunning strike.
It was so nearly 3-0 after 51 minutes when Long leapt to meet a right-wing corner and saw his downward header hit a post before being cleared. Mehmeti’s wonder striker two minutes later came just in time to rouse Bristol City fans starting to doubt their team.
Adam Randell sent a shot fizzing inches wide in the 66th minute with the home side on top. Both managers then made multiple changes and one of Oxford’s substitutes, Stanley Mills, brought a diving save from Vitek with his first touch.
Home supporters in a 23,440 crowd did their best to lift City, but Oxford dug in impressively and were well worth the points.
The managers
Bristol City’s Gerhard Struber:
“We were not good at set-pieces today. Up to this game we have been very good, but today we were not sharp enough or sufficiently prepared for balls into our box.
“Oxford play very direct and had a good plan against us. Losing Rob Atkinson to a knee injury so early in the game obviously had an effect, but we should have coped better.
“We will know more about his injury when he has had a scan. The same applies to Max Bird, who was not in the squad today because of a calf problem.
“In both boxes today, we were not of our normal standard. We had chances to score in the first half but were not sharp enough to take them.
“The players are super disappointed in the dressing room because we expected to win the game. Expectation levels are high at the club and that is a good thing.
“We felt the corner that led to Oxford’s second goal should not have been given, but these things happen in football and we needed to defend it better.
“The result showed how competitive the Championship is. You cannot let your standards slip as we did today.”
Oxford’s Gary Rowett:
“Brian De Keersmaecker has the ability to be a top player. We watched him a lot before signing him and today he gave a complete performance.
“He had injury problems at the start of the season, but since then has shown glimpses of what he can do. This was his best game and there is much more to come from him.
“I felt he scored our third goal, but Greg Leigh went straight to our fans as though it was his and maybe that has worked in his favour. If he did get a hair to the ball it wasn’t much more than that!
“I’m really pleased because apart from a spell of 10 or 15 minutes in the second half, I felt we were in control of the game.
“You are always going to come under pressure when a home team pull a goal back and that was the case for a while, but we rode it out and were worth our win.
“We have hardly been able to field the same team all season. I think the performance today showed that we can realistically aim for a top-half finish in the Championship this season, although that will be tough to achieve.”
