KARL Robinson admitted the only disappointment on a brilliant day for Oxford United was that there were no fans to witness it.

The U's thrashed Crewe Alexandra 6-0 at Gresty Road to equal their record Football League away win, set at Lincoln City in September 2019.

Read the match report here

Almost 700 United fans were in the away end that day, whereas this afternoon's victory was played out in front of empty stands with games remaining behind closed doors.

Robinson was in charge for last season's triumph at Sincil Bank and knows the absence of supporters was the one thing lacking.

"6-0 away from home is an incredible result," the U's head coach said. 

“We constantly speak about what it takes to be a professional footballer.

"When football clubs give you the opportunity to play for them, you play for people.

"It’s a sad one that you don’t have people there to say 'that was for you'.

"We’ve come away from home and won 6-0 – there’s not many times in footballers’ careers you can say that and to do it two years on the spin is tremendous testament to the players.”

Six different United players got on the scoresheet, with Josh Ruffels breaking the deadlock eight minutes before the interval.

James Henry and Elliott Moore struck to put the U's 3-0 up at half-time, with Brandon Barker, Cameron Brannagan and Sam Winnall adding to the tally in the second half.

The first five goals came inside 15 minutes of football and Robinson was particularly pleased with one of his scorers.

“It was a good performance all-round and this will be one you remember for a while," he said.

“To score three in each half is very good and they were all different types of goals.

"Brandon’s is a worldie and his assist for Jamo’s (Henry) – no-one in the league can do what he can do.

"The kid’s a special talent.”

The win puts United ninth in Sky Bet League One, four points shy of the play-offs.

While a place in the top six remains unlikely, Robinson feels there is still time for the U's to force their way into the conversation.

He said: “I believe a lot of the results have gone quite kindly.

"There’s a dogfight just below the top six, let’s get into the 60s and then we can take stock.

"We’ve got one game left in this block and if we win that we’ll be happy.”