KARL Robinson admitted Oxford United’s night could hardly have gone any better as they eased past Tottenham Hotspur Under 21s 3-0 in the Checkatrade Trophy.

The hosts made five changes and three of those – Charlie Raglan, Sam Smith and Tony McMahon – found the net to set up a third-round visit to Cheltenham Town in the new year.

They also handed a first-team debut to Armani Little, while youngster Aaron Heap came off the bench to make only his second appearance.

Along with a clean bill of health and senior players getting the precise amount of time which had been planned, Robinson was delighted.

The U’s head coach said: “We’ve scored three goals, the fans go home happy, we’ve kept a clean sheet and every player has played exactly the minutes we expected them to.

“It couldn’t have gone any better for us.

“Winning is becoming a habit and that’s something you pray for.

“To lose just once in 15 games is incredible.”

With United also still in the Emirates FA Cup, they will play nine games in the space of 29 days, but the performances of fringe players showed a strength in depth which will be vital.

“It gives us tremendous belief – Rags (Raglan) getting 90 minutes under his belt is great, especially with Rob (Dickie) coming off the other day,” Robinson said.

“The disappointing thing was we didn’t score four, five or even six, we had that much of the play.”

Little played the full 90 minutes and came close late on to capping his debut with a goal.

He experienced the other side of the fixture last season when playing for Southampton’s youngsters and felt the U’s got their gameplan spot on.

The 21-year-old, who has been on loan at Woking, said: “When you play against under 21s you know they’ll try to play football, so we have to use our physical presence.

“They’re used to tippy-tappy football, so you have to win the battle first and then play our football, which we did.

“It would’ve been nice to top it off with a goal, but the most important thing was I got minutes for the game I worked hard for the team and we progressed to the next round.”

United’s under 23s are playing in a behind-closed-doors game at Fulham today.

Ivo Pekalski is expected to be among the side, which is due to feature several triallists.