Oxford United rediscovered the value of grafting hard as they bounced back from their Yeovil hammering to bury Bury.

They recovered from a shaky start against the Shakers on Saturday to win 3-1 in front of the lowest league gate yet at the Kassam Stadium - just 4,308.

Assistant manager David Oldfield said it was a good response from the players - eventually.

"We need to work hard. We didn't do that last week, we did better today," he stated.

"In the first half, we didn't compete enough, we didn't win enough second balls all over the park, but we got better in the second half.

"We didn't start well, but we finished well."

Goals by Steve Basham and Tommy Mooney, and an own goal from Bury defender Paul Scott maintained United's unbeaten home league record since Rix took charge in March.

It was also the first time the team had scored three times in a game under Rix.

But Bury could, and probably should, have been three up before Basham struck five minutes before the break, with his first goal at the Oxford Mail Stand end for 16 months!

Oldfield admitted: "We got away with it in the first ten or 15 minutes. It was a huge disappointment at Yeovil, so this was such an important game.

"We let a lot of people down at Yeovil and we knew how we wanted to start this time, but we didn't.

"We didn't win the second balls, we didn't win the first balls either, and we didn't get tight.

"But we slowly settled down, got tighter and competed better. Bash's goal was vital - to get the first goal of the game was very important.

"In the second half we did as the manager wanted and it was much better.

"And after Bury pulled one back it was another good response to score straight away through Tommy."

Chris Hackett's introduction as a second-half substitute played a big part in Oxford's victory, which lifted them to ninth in the League Two table.

Hackett, making his first appearance for five weeks following injury, made both of United's second-half goals with right-wing crosses.

"Chrissy Hackett came back in and did well, and showed it's a squad game," Oldfield said.

Goalkeeper Chris Tardif also played a big part in United's victory, producing a series of important saves.

He was bombarded in the opening 15 minutes and admitted: "I said to a ball-boy, 'here we go again!' but the boys stuck at it and we got a good win in the end.

"Training was subdued last Monday but we knew that, if we got back to basics, we can be a promotion-challenging side this season."