STEVE Evans admitted he was thankful Oxford United only led 3-0 by half-time in their meeting with his Gillingham side.

James Henry scored twice and set up another for Matty Taylor in a stunning first half.

And the visitors needed goalkeeper Jack Bonham to make strong saves from Ben Woodburn and John Mousinho, while Henry also rattled the woodwork before the interval.

Evans, who had irked United with some of his pre-match comments, said: “I think first half the gulf in everything that Oxford did and we did was huge.

"It looked as if we hadn’t worked on the systems, the shape of play, everything. We were grateful to get to half-time at 3-0.

Also read: REPORT - Oxford Utd 3, Gillingham 0

“We had started bright, after 10 minutes, but they got a goal because we go chasing wrongly, it created the space for (James) Henry and he does what he does.”

The Kent side made a double change at half-time, but although Olly Lee hit the post shortly after the restart

Evans said: "The objective in the second half was not to lose the second half, as daft as that sounds.

"It's only in comic books, or once every five years, does it go from 3-0 (down) to a win or a draw.

"We made a bit of a game of it in the second half.”