KARL Robinson was delighted Oxford United's players 'dug themselves out of a hole' to claim a 2-2 draw at Fleetwood Town.

A fourth successive defeat in Sky Bet League One looked almost certain as the Cod Army raced into a 2-0 lead before half-time.

United had played some neat football without any cutting edge, but bringing Jamie Mackie on at the break proved crucial.

The veteran forward set up James Henry to pull a goal back, before grabbing the equaliser himself.

Robinson, United's head coach, said: "In the first half they played like an away team.

"We were like the home team trying to ask questions and every time we tried to shoot they blocked it.

"They knew we had pace up front, so they dropped to the edge of the box and our quick players became less effective.

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"We were able to make the change at half-time with Jamie and it meant they couldn’t drop to the edge of the box.

"I’m really pleased for the players because they dug themselves out of a hole in relation to the two silly goals we conceded again.

"We had a few things to say at half-time and the players’ mentality most importantly was perfect in the second half."

Mackie was left all alone for his goal and after having a couple of efforts ruled out for offside in recent weeks, he admitted to having a look at the assistant referee before celebrating.

He said: "I had a look because two or three times now I’ve felt I haven’t been offside.

"I’ve been a bit unlucky, but you’ve just go to carry on getting in the right positions.

"I did have a little glance because of the way it’s been going I thought it might go up."

He added: "I haven’t trained this week because of an issue with my back.

"I did something in the warm-up against Brentford, so I’ve been really limited this week.

"I managed it through the week and the manager said 'do you think you could give me something at Fleetwood?'

"We just needed changing today and sometimes it works out. We’ve got to try to take the positives."

Winger Jordan Graham added: "I think if someone had offered us a point at half-time we would have bitten your hand off.

"I thought we were reasonably good in the first half and they only had two or three attempts and scored two goals, which was really frustrating because we didn’t feel we were playing poorly.

"We had some words at half-time and it was clearly much-needed.

"We came out in the second half and played how we should have done from the first minute."