PEP Clotet hailed Oxford United’s late winner against Doncaster Rovers as an indication his side are heading in the right direction.

Josh Ruffels settled a tight, scruffy game with a long-range effort six minutes into stoppage time to secure a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium.

While the late drama was no good for the blood pressure, Clotet was deeply encouraged.

He said: “It’s something you don’t want often, but I think it’s a clear sign the team is in good spirits and in a positive progression.

“These things tend to happen to those teams that believe in themselves.

“That’s why I’m very happy, because the players have worked very hard to get to that.

“It’s happened against us – remember the Bradford game (where the Bantams equalised in the 94th minute) – where you think you can win and then something happens.

“Here we got back the mentality Bradford had in that game. We’ve been speaking a lot with the lads about going until the end.”

Without the goal, the big talking point would have been Jack Payne’s penalty, which was saved 11 minutes from time.

It was the second spot kick United have missed in their last four, following regular taker Ryan Ledson’s failure against Rotherham United in October.

Clotet acknowledged it was a problem area for his side.

He said: “It is a little bit – the two penalties we missed were because we didn’t kick it right.

“We didn’t miss because the goalkeeper has been very good, it hasn’t been a good kick and it’s something we are going to address.”