Matt Bloomfield reaction as Preston North End beaten by Oxford United

Oxford United boss Matt Bloomfield hailed his side’s performance after they inflicted a 3-1 defeat on Preston North End.

Michal Helik opened the scoring for Oxford on five minutes, shortly before Milutin Osmajic equalised. Will Lankshear and Ciaron Brown’s second-half goals gave the U’s the win in Lancashire, though. Bloomfield took charge of the relegation-threatened club in January, after Gary Rowett’s sacking. Victory over the Lilywhites took them out of the bottom three overnight.

“Really pleasing,” Bloomfield told the media after the game, “More than anything, I’m really pleased with the performance. I think the results are important but if we just focus on that, we forget that it’s the performance that takes you to the result.

“I thought we played with a real energy, a freshness, an enthusiasm tonight. We knew we were going to get put under pressure at times and have to defend our goal. Coming to Preston, you’re always going to have to do that.”

On the state of the pitch possibly suiting his side, he said: “Possibly. I think what I would say is we hit the bar at Stoke; could have gone 2-1 up on a really good pitch. We went to Middlesbrough and hit the woodwork twice.

“I’m not sure many teams have gone to the Riverside and hit the woodwork twice to maybe go ahead. There’s going to be many challenges between now and the end of the season.

“Tonight was a different challenge against a manager who knows how to get results at this level against a group of players who have got so much experience and physicality.”