Oxford United were back in the groove again as they destroyed Denis Smith's West Brom 3-0 at the Manor Ground last night.

Goals from Joey Beauchamp, Paul Powell and Simon Marsh gave Smith a second miserable return to the club he managed for four years before quitting last Christmas.

Following on from the 4-1 destruction of QPR last Saturday, it's now seven goals in two games for Malcolm Shotton's U's . . . an amazing turn-around after their 7-0 defeat at Sunderland.

"We're back to the way we were at the end of last season," said Shotton. "We're working hard, have bags of confidence and are playing some great stuff here at the Manor.

"What we have got is a great team spirit and that counts for a lot."

Smith acknowledged that while West Brom had a collection of quite talented individuals, they were no match for a team like Oxford who play with such spirit.

"We weren't a team, Oxford were a team," he said. "They worked hard, closed us down and I said to my players at half-time they were very fortunate to be only two goals down.

"All credit to Oxford. David Smith and Martin Gray, in particular, worked tremendously hard and I thought Powell was excellent as well." It was a dazzling first-half performance from United last night and had luck been on their side, and had they come up against a lesser keeper than Alan Miller, they might have beaten West Brom by a Sunderland-size score. "We're playing with a lot more confidence," said assistant boss Mark Harrison. "When the players are confident, they want to play, they want togo out there and put on a show."

"The movement off the front line was excellent. We were tremendous in the first half when we might have had six and it was a good professional performance in the second not to concede a goal.

"We were disappointed that we let one in at the end against QPR and tonight they were totally professional and got the clean sheet they deserved." "In these days of foreign stars and multi-million pound players - even West Brom had a Dutchman and two Italians in their midfield - it was heartening for Oxford United supporters to see local heroes come good.

Oxford-born Beauchamp scored for the second game in succession, 20-year-old Powell, from Didcot, hit his first senior goal at the Manor, and 21-year-old Marsh, from Marlow, struck his second of the season.

"I think the biggest thing now is that the lads are working hard," said Marsh. "We're more of a unit and it's giving players more confidence.

"We just need to carry this on to away games now and turn in that kind of performance to try and get a result at Huddersfield on Saturday."

Said Powell: "The spirit in the camp has always been good but the lads have grown after Sunderland.

"I used to stand in the London Road and cheer the boys on, so it was great for me to score my first one in front of the London Road end, but the most important thing was to be involved in a win like that."

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