DES Buckingham says Oxford United’s heavy defeat at Bolton Wanderers was one of a handful of catalysts which enabled the team to push on at the end of the regular season.

The U’s were beaten 5-0 by the Trotters in March, but used the result as a turning point in the campaign.

In the 10 games since, United have lost just once, that being the 1-0 defeat at home to Lincoln City.

READ ALSO: Meet the fans going to Wembley from all the corners of the globe

U’s head coach Buckingham said: “Coming in, in November, you don’t have a pre-season, and I came in by myself. You try and implement your ideas and change the way the team plays, whilst also keeping the good stuff that has been.

“That transition period went on for a couple of months. We had new staff join. Joe Moore, the analyst, and Luke Taylor, head of athletic performance, came in.

“I’d worked with them before and they knew what I wanted to do, and that allowed us to really get those messages across to the players a bit quicker.

“Then it’s the ability to change, and we changed after Bolton. We had to.

“Three or four things came together, and the results have been really good, but the thing that got me was the performances.

“There’s a lot more work we want to do, and that we need to do, but I’m pleased with the way that we’ve set up and the way that we’ve adapted, and I’m really pleased with how we stuck together throughout the whole period.”