ROB Hall admitted even he was surprised that he scored with a header at Hereford on Saturday.

The on-loan West Ham striker – the smallest player on the pitch – nodded in Liam Davis’s cross just past the half-hour mark to prove the match-winner.

And Hall, who netted his only other Football League goal when Oxford beat Dagenham last month, was delighted.

“I don’t normally do headers,” Hall joked.

“I think I did score with my head last season, but certainly don’t get many.

“It was great play by Liam down the left and Mickey Lewis has been drilling into us all week that we need to make near-post runs to get headers on goal, and that’s what I did.

“Luckily for me it came off my head perfectly and went in, but obviously the three points was the crucial thing today.”

In almost identical fashion to his debut at Dagenham, Hall had little of the ball in the opening 30 minutes, but was clearly lifted by the goal and looked a constant threat in the second period.

“I am really enjoying my time here,” he said.

“I have struck up a good link with Liam and Peter Leven on the left and it is going well at the moment.

“I just want to be playing football and as soon as I got the call from West Ham to say that Oxford wanted me, I jumped at the chance.”

However, when asked about whether he would be giving his teammates some heading advice, Hall joked: “I don’t think so.

“I’m not too sure that would go down too well with some of them.”