KARL Robinson brought up 50 matches in charge of Oxford United with the win over Portsmouth – but he felt it was the first time he had been able to ‘manage’ during a game.
Injury problems have seen the bench filled out by 16-year-olds at times this season, but Saturday marked a change.
There were attacking options in the form of Marcus Browne and Samir Carruthers, plus the experience of new signing Ahmed Kashi.
Robinson, United’s head coach, said: “It was really nice, I’d actually class it as the first time I’ve managed here.
“What I mean by that is when the game kicks off (I have) very rarely had an opportunity to manage because we haven’t had any substitutions.
Match report: Oxford Utd 2, Portsmouth 1
“I had the likes of Marcus Browne and Ahmed Kashi to come on. I’ve never had that in my 50 games here.
“It’s nice when a winger (Jordan Graham) puts a shift in and then you can bring on Marcus.”
Robinson’s first game at United was also against Pompey, a 3-0 defeat last March.
The key moment of that game came when Alex Mowatt missed a penalty and was then sent off for reacting to provocation from Nathan Thompson.
A clip of the incident was tweeted by Portsmouth’s official account to preview the game, which Robinson admitted had given his side extra motivation.
In pictures: Gallery from Oxford United's win against Portsmouth
He said: “Our players were texting me and weren’t happy with that. It’s nothing to do with the footballing staff, but it was a bit disrespectful.
“It was a difficult moment for us, but you’ve got to find a way of winning and we used it as a motivation.”
The one concern from the game was the news goalkeeper Simon Eastwood played despite struggling with a knee injury.
Robinson said: “It’s a worry for us.”
- UNITED'S under 23 side lost 2-0 at Swansea City in the Premier League Cup on Saturday.
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