SIMON Eastwood admitted Oxford United’s clean sheet meant more to him than most after coming against former side Bradford City.

The Bantams gave the goalkeeper his first chance of regular games in the Football League, making 28 appearances for them in 2009.

It was a mixed loan spell, which ensured Saturday’s game at the Kassam Stadium was one of the first Eastwood searched for when the fixtures were released.

City failed to have a shot on target in United’s 1-0 win and the shut-out was sweet for the 27-year-old.

“It definitely is,” he said.

“I looked for it at the start of the season – I wanted to play well and win the game, it’s definitely extra special for me.

“I was only 20 when I was there.

“It’s a massive club and to play in front of 15,000 every week when I hadn’t really played before, it was hard.

“Maybe at times I did struggle, so to do well against them is a good feeling.”

The victory got United back on track following their surprise 3-1 defeat at home to AFC Wimbledon.

A strong defensive unit conceded three times before the break, so Eastwood was delighted with the reaction.

He said: “I think everybody was a bit shocked last week against Wimbledon.

“To go 3-0 down at half-time gave ourselves a mountain to climb, but I think it shows a good response against a team which hadn’t lost a game.”

Bantams boss Stuart McCall said: “I knew this would be a tough game, Oxford will give a lot of sides problems this season, but I felt our performance probably deserved at least a share of the spoils.

“It is a horrible feeling to lose, it is never nice to lose, but we can’t do anything about it now.”