MAN mountain Kevin Francis climbed off his sickbed to help Oxford United to a 2-1 derby win over Swindon which sent their fans into raptures.

Francis jetted back from international duty in the sun-baked Caribbean and was greeted with hailstones on his first training session since returning to icy England last week.

But despite picking up the flu bug which has swept through the Manor Ground this month, Francis was desperate to play . . . and promptly headed the U's in front in the first half.

Boss Malcolm Shotton later paid tribute to the 6ft 7in striker for putting up with any pain and instead leaving Swindon with a giant-sized headache.

"He came in and said he wasn't very well but I gave him a couple of Paracetamols and he lasted the game and did well," Shotton said.

"I don't mind him being ill if he goes and does that," he added, pointing to the London Road goalmouth where Francis had climbed to head home a Joey Beauchamp corner.

"We'd had a couple of reports that the Swindon keeper doesn't like inswinging corners, so we'd practised them in training. That's where those reports can be so useful."

Beauchamp tormented his former club with another quality set-piece delivery when he fired over a free-kick which Phil Gilchrist nodded in for No 2.

And although Swindon rallied in the second half and pulled a goal back, United held on for their seventh win in eight home games since Shotton was appointed.

"When I came here, the brief was to avoid relegation," Shotton declared.

"To be mathematically safe with four games to go, bearing in mind the position we were in and with the players being a bit down before I came here, well it's been a great turn-around." Shotton played down an incident at the final whistle in which Phil Gilchrist appeared to launch a verbal attack on the referee.

He and Gilchrist went into the referee's room and spent nearly ten minutes talking to the officials after the game.

When they emerged, neither would make any comment.

The ref, Scott Mathieson from Stockport, commented: "It's not a problem. I won't be mentioning it in my report."

Gilchrist, who had another outstanding game, said: "Swindon didn't have a kick in the first half. In the second, it was very different and the wind was a lot stronger than we thought.

"We're safe anyway but we wanted to put on a performance for our fans. I felt we did that in the first half but let ourselves down in the second.

"It was especially sweet to score twice from set-pieces after losing to three set pieces at Port Vale last week."

Shotton added: "The quality of the deliveries from Joey for the two goals was excellent, far better than last time.

"Being Swindon, it was Joey's Cup Final today and while I'm not happy with the booking he got, I can understand him being fired up."

UNITED Youth made it a double derby delight by beating Reading 3-0 in SE Counties League Division 2 with two goals from Ben Henshaw and one from Ollie Bennett.

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