CHRIS Wilder says that it is nice to be on the right side of a below-par performance.

The Oxford United boss felt that his side failed to win a number of games last season when they deserved to – but yesterday was maybe a reverse of that.

“The people that saw us last season will know that in about ten games we should have got something out of them, but didn’t” he said.

“Swindon had a right go, but if you are going to be successful you sometimes have to grind it out and get the result, and that’s what we have done.

“They will say that they have been unfortunate, but it’s all about the result.

“After 38 years, nobody cares how well you play, it’s all about winning a game.”

He added: “When I look at the DVD I am sure that there will be lots of things I pick up on and plenty for us to work on.

“I was losing my voice towards the end when the centre forwards wanted to come back and help us protect the lead late on and I am screaming at them to get up the pitch...but we got there.

“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked, but having said that, it was a great team effort and they have all put a shift in.

“Last season we lost a host of games where we were the better team, so it’s nice to be on the other end of that – and especially today.”

Wilder did not want to get drawn into what he thought of Paolo Di Canio’s sending off, but said of the incident: “We had a directive before the game that we (the managers) had to keep sensible.

“You’ve seen my reaction when we have scored and you have seen what others have done – but I’m not going to get involved in that.”

Assistant manager Mickey Lewis, who was involved in a number of Oxford-Swindon matches while a player, added: “In the end it was a great result.

“All the players, and lot of the lads who maybe aren’t from Oxford, knew what this meant to people and they were desperate to get a result today.

“I played in a lot of these derby games and we usually did well at home, but never got the result here, so it was great to do that today.

“I don’t like to single out players, but the two centre halves were immense, especially in the last 20 minutes when we were under a bit of pressure.”