MATTY Taylor was thrilled to see Sam Winnall stamp his mark on Oxford United’s season with a memorable winner against Sheffield Wednesday.

The U’s striker powered home a header six minutes from time to seal a 3-2 turnaround triumph over his former club.

It was Winnall’s first goal of the season and only his seventh since joining United in September 2020, having seen his time at the Kassam Stadium disrupted by injuries.

The substitute only came off the bench ten minutes earlier and his strike partner, who scored United’s first two goals to reach 50 for his home town club, was delighted to watch Winnall replicate his form in training on the big occasion.

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“We’d like to play together more often, but that’s the formation and the philosophy the gaffer has,” Taylor said.

“He’s a great player and has scored a hatful of goals in his career.

“We train together every day, he’s an unbelievable finisher, hang a high ball up and I’d bet a lot of money on him winning it and scoring.

“In the finishing drills he’s smashing them in left, right and centre.

“He’ll be delighted, it’s always more special against your former club.

“A winning goal’s a winning goal and every striker loves that.”

The victory was United’s first of 2022 and sent them back into the Sky Bet League One play-off places.

Karl Robinson’s side had claimed just one point from their last three matches and went behind to Barry Bannan’s seventh-minute strike.

Wednesday were on top in the first half, but the U’s switched formation to 3-5-2 before the break and Taylor headed them level in stoppage-time.

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The No 9 scored again within a minute of Josh Windass restoring the lead and United finished strongly in front of their first home crowd of 10,000 this season.

Taylor said: “That’s probably why we won the game, the goals came at really good times.

“They were probably wondering how we were drawing both times and when we pegged them back to 2-2 we always finish strong here.

“You could see it in the lads’ eyes, there was so much belief.”

Winnall was not the only one to step up, with Billy Bodin and Marcus McGuane among those to impress despite lacking minutes recently.

Taylor, who knows Bodin well from their time at Bristol Rovers, said: “It’s not just an XI, it’s a squad that has unbelievable quality.

“Those lads haven’t played for a while and I thought they were the best players on the pitch.

“I thought Billy was outstanding, he’s had to be patient and shown what he can do in a massive game.”

Taylor’s 49th and 50th goals took him to joint 14th in United’s all-time charts, while he is now equal ninth for Football League strikes with 44.

The Kidlington-born striker said: “I know the record, it’s not going to get broken this year or next year.

“I’ll keep trying to put it in the net for as long as I’m here and I’ll see what I end up on.

“Being an Oxford lad, of course I’d like to end up top of the pile but we’ll see. There’s a long way to go yet.”