MICHAEL Appleton was thrilled with the way Oxford United shared the goalscoring burden to hit five goals in the absence of Kemar Roofe.

The top scorer was only fit enough to make the bench after struggling with a sickness bug, but he was not missed as the U's ran out 5-1 winners at Crawley Town.

Chris Maguire scored his first league goals for the club with a double, while Callum O'Dowda, Liam Sercombe and George Waring were also on target.

The victory kept the U's second in Sky Bet League Two, stretching their cushion over Bristol Rovers in fourth place to four points.

Appleton was pleased to see other figures step forward to take responsibility with their 25-goal talisman unable to feature. 

The head coach said: "A couple of different players got on the scoresheet, which is good to see.

"They are sharing that workload, which is good.

"I spoke to them about that at the hotel before the game.

"Kem hadn’t eaten properly for two and a half days and I said to him we won’t use you unless I feel we need to.

"I think his little one had something earlier in the week. I don’t know if it was a virus or what."

Roofe is expected to be fit to face Luton Town next Saturday and United are hopeful Josh Ruffels will also recover.

The midfielder limped off after a late tackle from Frankie Sutherland ten minutes from time.

Appleton said: "It’s not a break or anything, but he’s got two horrendous gashes on his shin that might need stitching.

"It was a poor challenge.

"I’m not going to say anything about referees because it will just get me in all sorts of trouble.

"There’s no bone damage and he’s quite a tough kid so as long as he gets it packed up or stitched I’m sure there won’t be any issues.

"With John Lundstram coming back (from suspension) it gives us a little more relief knowing we’ve got someone who is more than able if he needs to play."