Rival boss fumes at substitutions that made Oxford 'worse' against Swindon - days after using same tactic in come-from-behind draw against Portsmouth
It was a tactic that worked a treat against Pompey just days earlier.
However, Oxford manager Karl Robinson wasn’t able to replicate his super-sub intervention against Swindon in League One on Saturday.
Quite the opposite really, with the U’s boss believing his second-half substitutions at the Kassam Stadium yesterday – Mark Sykes, Mide Shodipo and Daniel Agyei – made his his team ‘worse’.
Indeed, rather than building on the 1-0 lead Matty Taylor handed the hosts on 15 minutes, Oxford – who ended up clinching a 1-1 draw with the Blues at Fratton Park last Tuesday night following Robinson’s timely three-man intervention near the hour mark – ended up losing their derby fixture against the Robins 2-1.
And to make matters worse, it was opposite number John Sheridan’s use of his own bench that made the difference.
Short of numbers because of injuries, the Swindon boss chose to throw on centre-back Tom Broadbent up front in the hope of snatching something from the game.
And the gamble paid off, with the substitute makeshift striker scoring an 85th-minute leveller, before setting up team-mate Matt Smith’s injury-time winner.
It handed the visitors, who were without the injured Brett Pitman, their first win against Oxford in nine attempts.
For Robinson, though, the result and his substitutes left him seething.
He told the Oxford Mail: ‘The substitutions made no impact. I think we went backwards.
‘I can’t protect my players today.
‘You make changes to make your team better and I think ours made our team worse.
‘The goal at the end is just disgusting.’
He added: ‘We put on Dan Agyei, who played wonderfully well on Tuesday, Mark Sykes, who everyone tells me is a very good player with loads of energy, and they let people run past them.
‘We put Mide on and I don’t see what he’s given us.’
The result saw Swindon move up to 16th in the table, while Oxford dropped to 19th.