Witney wonder Jamie Cook came back to haunt his old club Oxford United with a brilliant goal to bring the U's New Year's heartache.

Cook, who a year ago was playing for Hellenic League side Witney United after trying his luck as a professional golfer, teed the ball up 40 yards out and then hit a glorious five-iron-like drive over United keeper Billy Turley.

It was the first of Cook's two goals in a couple of minutes as Crawley Town beat Darren Patterson's team 2-0 in the Blue Square Premier.

To cap a dire start to 2008 for 'Patto', he has now lost his skipper Barry Quinn for Saturday's home match against Altrincham because the defender saw red for a professional foul on Jon-Paul Pittman, which brought Cook his second goal from the penalty spot.

Patterson said: "It was one piece of magic, and a mistake and bit of madness by Quinny, who's otherwise been excellent for me and one of our most consistent players.

"It's all the more galling that Cook is from Witney. We don't have anybody in our team with the vision and quality to do something like he did with that first goal."

Crawley boss Steve Evans also described Cook's opener as "magical".

"He has got a special talent," he said. "He could easily be playing at Championship level, the only thing is that you have to 'love him up'. He needs encouragement."

Oxford United fans hardly need reminding that Cook can play at Championship level. He did just that for them a decade ago, memorably scoring one of the goals when United beat Manchester City 2-0 at Maine Road.

But that now seems an eternity ago.

Patterson hopes to make a couple of signings in the next few days to bolster his side for Altrincham's visit to the Kassam Stadium.

He said: "The first 20 minutes we looked leggy and were disappointed with how we'd played, but we got back in and were delighted to be level at half-time.

"We probably had the best half-chance of the second half.

"We don't look like scoring, I've got to be honest, and we're not full of confidence on the bench when the team does go forward.

"Our passing of the ball has got to be so much better and our ball retention isn't good enough. We must do that better.

"It's impossible to keep on keeping clean sheets, as we have been doing. We have to score some goals."