OXFORD United beat Morecambe 3-1 to make it four wins in a row – but Karl Robinson admitted they were not at their best.

Steve Seddon’s first-half opener was cancelled out by Shrimps top-scorer Cole Stockton after the break as the visitors gave the U’s plenty to think about.

James Henry had already missed a penalty, but Mark Sykes and Matty Taylor scored in the final 17 minutes as United stayed sixth in Sky Bet League One.

Read the match report here

Robinson felt his side did not hit their usual standards in front of more than 8,500 home fans at the Kassam Stadium, the highest this season.

The U’s head coach said: “This would’ve been a very good performance in years gone by.

“We didn’t really get carved open, their goal came from the leading goalscorer in the league who has hit an absolute wonder strike.

“We were comfortable, if the penalty goes in the game could have been so different.

“In the first half we probably have four, five or six opportunities to score that we never took and we didn’t actually make the goalkeeper work.

“To win the last three league games on the spin is tremendous testament to the players, it’s one defeat in seven (in the league).

“The league table looks incredibly healthy – it’s not a usual Oxford United table for this time of year.

“We’ve got a bit of a gap to the teams below us and we get closer to Sunderland. It’s not a bad day all-round from our point of view.”

Seddon’s goal came from a corner, as the U’s finally scored from a set-piece for the first time this season.

Henry’s corner was headed on by Elliott Moore, with Taylor hooking across goal and the left back nodding into the net.

Robinson joked: “I said to the lads, maybe that’s why we’re not scoring from set-plays.

“Working on a one-two and an overhead kick to get a goal at the back post is a really difficult combination to try to pull off on a regular basis.”

Henry sent his penalty into the East Stand seven minutes after the break, having scored his previous three spot-kicks this season.

It looked costly when Stockton volleyed home his 13th goal of the campaign 12 minutes later, just before Nathan Holland went off injured.

Robinson said: “It’s a tight calf, we wouldn’t have risked him next weekend anyway.

“He’ll be fine by the time we go to Ipswich.”

Morecambe were level for just nine minutes before Sykes threw his body at Taylor’s knock-down to score his fourth of the season.

United controlled the closing stages and the U’s No 9 went from provider to scorer late on, dinking the ball over Jokull Andresson from Seddon’s exquisite backheel.

Robinson said: “The pleasing thing for me was how we saw the last ten minutes out.

“We took the sting completely out of the game at 2-1, Herbie (Kane) and Marcus (McGuane) are tremendous ball manipulators.

“I think a lot of them will say it wasn’t their best performance, but we got a 3-1 win at home.”