Peter Leven could not hide his surprise when told that Oxford United’s win at Dagenham & Redbridge was their first 1-0 victory for 17 months.

But the midfielder says that the result and performance bodes very well for the future.

Not since United beat Wrexham with a solitary Kevin Sandwith goal at the Kassam Stadium on April 20, 2010 had the U’s won by that scoreline until their triumph at Victoria Park on Tuesday.

“That’s a great statistic,” Leven commented.

“I didn’t know that as obviously I wasn’t here last season, but it shows that we can do it.

“When you look at the strength of our back line and also Ryan Clarke in goal, we are very capable of keeping clean sheets.

“In truth, we should probably have killed the game off as we had plenty of chances, but we’ll certainly take the 1-0 win.”

Leven said that the team’s determination to put right a couple of poor results was very evident.

“It was a very professional performance,” he said.

“There were a few home truths told on the pitch and we were all spurring each other on out there which is good.

“We are all pulling in the same direction here and working to try and get promotion.”

Boss Chris Wilder said that the victory was the important thing rather than the scoreline.

“I just want to win football matches,” he said.

“You want your goalkeeper and defence to keep clean sheet of course you do, but the three points is what it’s all about.”