Jamie Cook admitted his joy at scoring twice and firing his side to victory was tainted by the fact it came against Oxford United.

The Crawley striker, who came through the ranks at Oxford in the mid-90s before leaving for Boston in 2001, was the difference between the teams on New Year's Day as Darren Patterson's side slipped to 14th in the Blue Square Premier table.

And even harder to take for the U's manager is that Cook got back into pro football after being seen playing for Witney United in the Hellenic League Premier Division.

"I had a bit of a mid-life crisis," said the 28-year-old Cook. "I had stopped enjoying football, didn't want to play any more and had decided to concentrate on golf instead.

"I was just playing for fun really at Witney and then completely out of the blue I received a call from Graham Westley, who I worked with at Stevenage, who was in charge at Rushden.

"He asked me if I fancied giving pro football another chance, and it came at exactly the right time.

"I did well at Rushden even though Graham had left, and then got the call from Steve Evans - who I won the league with at Boston - to join Crawley.

"And it is proving a great move for me - I'm really enjoying myself again."

However, Cook still follows Oxford and doesn't like to see them languishing in the lower reaches of the table.

"It is obviously nice to get two goals and three points, but hopefully now Oxford can go on, because I don't like seeing them where they are," he said.

"They shouldn't even be in non-League, let alone where they are in the table.

"I still follow them and hope that they can turn things around soon and move up the league again."

Cook was disappointed not to claim a hat-trick after going through in the final minute, but was pleased with his two other strikes, the first a 35-yard scorcher.

"It was a good goal for me," he said.

"The ball came to me, and I remember looking up and thinking the keeper looked a long way off his line and thought I'd have a go. Luckily, I caught it spot-on.

"The penalty was my first of the season - I have taken them before - but I should have had a hat-trick really.

"My legs had just gone, my touch wasn't great and to be fair to the keeper, it was a decent save, but I should have scored.

"It's just nice to get back to enjoying football again."