MATTY Taylor’s 14th goal gave Oxford United one of their best results of the season as Ipswich Town were beaten at Portman Road.

The striker finished off a high-class move just before the break after the visitors had weathered some pressure from the Tractor Boys.

The visitors had to dig in at times after the break, but managed the game well and their commitment to keep attacking helped keep Ipswich, who had Kayden Jackson sent off in stoppage time, at bay.

Following on from the 5-0 midweek mauling of AFC Wimbledon, it helped build momentum into a play-off campaign which was flagging a week ago.

Karl Robinson’s men are now only three points away from the top six, ahead of home games next week with Accrington Stanley and Southend United.

Alex Gorrin was brought straight back in after his suspension, replacing Mark Sykes in the only change to the XI.

The Spaniard’s extra defensive qualities were needed in a first half where United had plenty of defending to do at times.

It took a while for anything noteworthy to happen, with the game bogged down in midfield as the sides looked to figure each other out.

Ipswich looked most threatening down their right flank, with Jackson sliding in a couple of dangerous crosses which were out of Will Keane’s reach.

Midway through the half they opened United up down that side, as Nathan Holland lost out too easily to Luke Woolfenden.

Jackson got in, but when he cut the ball back to the edge of the box Luke Garbutt fired wildly over with his right foot.

Aside from a Marcus Browne free-kick which cleared the crossbar, United offered little going forward.

They increasingly put themselves under pressure around the half-hour mark by giving the ball away cheaply.

Ipswich looked to capitalise and came close from two corners. The first ricocheted to Keane, who was smothered by the quick-thinking Simon Eastwood.

The goalkeeper was beaten on 35 minutes, but after Garbutt’s set piece cleared his head, Keane nodded inches wide from close range.

While at that point United looked like they were hanging on for half-time, the visitors roused themselves to come alive.

After Henry fired a 30-yard warning shot which was saved by Tomas Holy, they opened the scoring in terrific style.

A flowing counter-attack saw Josh Ruffels break forward and pick out Cameron Brannagan. He turned down a shot from 20 yards in favour of a pass to Henry in the box and as Ipswich’s defenders scrambled to block his route to goal, the winger squared to give Taylor a tap-in.

It stunned a Portman Road crowd, who needed the interval to regroup.

United would have been expecting a reaction and Ipswich started the second half quickly.

It took them just 25 seconds to win a corner, while two minutes later Eastwood was needed to tip over Josh Earl’s header from another set piece.

The visitors though were not content to just sit on their lead, with midfielders breaking forward when they had the chance.

Ipswich looked susceptible on the counter-attack and it took a last-ditch block to deny Brannagan after Henry and Anthony Forde had combined down the right.

Just after the hour Forde’s hopeful long ball was superbly brought down by Taylor, but he could not beat Holy.

The Town support became increasingly frustrated at the visitors’ attempts to slow the game down when they got the chance.

They were also irked by the lack of clear-cut chances created by the Tractor Boys, who were struggling to break United down.

Their frustration simmered over in stoppage time, when Jackson received a straight red card for an apparent stamp on Rob Dickie.

It helped make the closing moments less nerve-racking for the travelling fans, who were left celebrating noisily at the full-time whistle.

Ipswich Tn (3-4-1-2): Holy, Earl, Chambers, Woolfenden, Edwards (Bishop 71), Downes, Nolan, Garbutt, Judge (Sears 90), Keane, Jackson.

Unused subs: Norris, Wilson, Skuse, Dozzell, Huws.

Booked: Garbutt, Woolfenden.

Sent off: Jackson.

Oxford Utd (4-3-3): Eastwood, Forde, Dickie, Moore, Ruffels, Gorrin, Brannagan, Browne, Henry (Agyei 83), Taylor (Mackie 80), Holland (Sykes 70).

Unused subs: Stevens, Long, Hanson, Thorne.

Booked: Browne.

Referee: Scott Oldham (Lancashire).

Attendance: 19,367 (1,365 visitors).