KARL Robinson felt Oxford United’s substitutions allowed them to wrestle back control against Shrewsbury Town.

The hosts were on top and had just equalised through Ryan Bowman when the U’s made their first change of the afternoon, Billy Bodin replacing Nathan Holland midway through the second half.

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The next substitution saw Marcus McGuane come on for Gavin Whyte with 13 minutes left and it signalled a tweak to United’s shape.

Bodin partnered Matty Taylor in the front two and Cameron Brannagan pushed up alongside McGuane in behind, seeing them go man-for-man against the lively Shrewsbury midfield two of Luke Leahy and Tyrese Fornah.

“That was a big change for us,” Robinson said.

“Their holding midfield players were starting to dictate the game as a two.

“We only had one ‘10’, which was Nathan.

“Putting Marcus’s power on that pitch and Cameron being a little bit higher stopped that, and getting Bodes up alongside Matty and then Sam (Winnall).

“I thought the subs really helped us and they gained us a bit of momentum midway through the second half.”

WATCH: Highlights of yesterday's game

United were without nine players through illness or injury and three of those – Jack Stevens, Ciaron Brown and Sam Long – were sidelined late in the week.

Meanwhile, Robinson had already confirmed Marcus Browne and Sam Baldock are set to miss most of the remaining games.

One piece of good news was the return of Bodin, who had been sidelined for the last month.

The forward made a difference when he came on and Robinson knows it is vital the treatment room clears ahead of a difficult run-in.

Robinson added: “Billy’s a top player, we’ve got some really good players and they’re only going to get better.

“It’s important that these players get back fit, we know Marcus (Browne) and hopefully Sam (Baldock) will be back for the last one or two games of the season.

“It’s important we keep ourselves on that front foot.”

RATINGS: Every Oxford United player marked out of 10

Stevens’ absence meant Simon Eastwood featured for the first time since January 15 and the goalkeeper produced an assured display, making one outstanding diving save to keep out Ethan Ebanks-Landell’s header.

Robinson said: “The save in the first half was outstanding, it really was.

“It’s so hard to pick out any player, they were all very good.”