BILLY Turley's mental strength was praised by Oxford United boss Darren Patterson after the goalkeeper was back to his imperious best to help the U's win at Weymouth.

United's No 1 put his Northwich horror behind him and was virtually faultless as Oxford beat the Terras 1-0 for their fourth win in five matches and their third away victory on the spin.

Turley pulled off three super saves in the first half, and his handling was immaculate all afternoon.

Patterson said: "Billy's showed the character we've always known he's got.

"In the first half, against the wind, we were indebted to Billy. I was pleased to come in at 0-0.

"But we moved the ball much better in the secondand when I brought the two subs on, I thought they were both very effective."

The introduction of Yemi Odubade and Craig McAllister for the disappointing Justin Richards and Matt Green kept Oxford in the ascendancy, and Odubade, in particular, gave Weymouth big problems.

"The two substitutions worked a treat," he said. "Yemi was the player we know he can be."

Patterson added: "Four wins out of five is promotion form. We've played better, but we showed character."

Phil Trainer grabbed the winner with his sixth goal of the season, and Patterson believes he's now playing in his best position.

"Phil was maybe meaning to head back across, but from where I was, it was a real centre forward's finish," he said.

"I think it suits him better on the left. He was on fire for the first few games of the season, but then started to look tired, so we pulled him out of the middle - and he's doing very well again."

Turley admitted relief to have exorcised the demons of Northwich, when his early error gave Vics a bizarre goal that proved to be the winner.

He said: "It was more of a freak goal than anything, my knee came round and knocked the ball sideways.

"I'd had a bad week, so it was nice to make a few saves today, and we scored a good goal - though I think it was really a cross from Phil!"

It was a good day all-round for Patterson. He also got the Grand National winner in the team's sweepstake!