Ian Atkins saluted the character of his players after Oxford United came from behind to beat Swansea City 2-1 on Saturday and climb to 14th in Division 3.

It was a case of 'never mind the quality, feel the width' as the U's struggled to get their game together, but ground their way to a vital victory.

"We didn't function, we looked heavy," Atkins admitted after the match.

"But I've just said to the players . . . it was probably one of the poorer performances since I've been here, but one of the better results, because they didn't let their heads drop when we didn't have possession, they stuck in there and they battled away and got three points.

"Sometimes, at any level, the Man Uniteds and Liverpools don't always play well and things don't always go right, but they've got the ability to grind it out and win 1-0.

"Bearing in mind that we were 1-0 down as well, then it was an excellent result. But it wasn't a very good performance."

Goals from Paul Moody and Andy Scott overturned an early strike from Swansea's Jonathan Coates, with all the goals coming in the opening 31 minutes. After that, and with goalkeeper Ian McCaldon nursing an injury, United hung on grimly to their lead.

"It's possibly a game we wouldn't have won six weeks ago," Atkins added. "All I can basically say is a win is a win.

"We didn't exactly play. I wasn't happy with a lot of our play. When we had the ball we didn't move it. Having said that, there were a lot of very tired legs out there and maybe it was the heavy pitch at Shrewsbury on Tuesday which took a lot out of us.

"We had one or two knocks but that's not an excuse. Ian McCaldon pulled a thigh muscle before the interval, so he was struggling, that's why he wasn't able to take the goal kicks, and that has an effect because the opposition then push more men forward.

"Jon Richardson came off, having felt his groin just before half-time, and I thought Scott Guyett came in and did a good job for us.

"We had a bit of a shock before the game when Dean Whitehead clicked his back out and 15 minutes before kick-off we had to go in to see the referee and say we may have to change the teamsheet. But fair play to Whitehead, he went out there and stuck at it. He had to have his back clicked back in, which wasn't an ideal preparation.

"As much as Swansea forced the play in the second half, and had a lot of the ball, I wouldn't say we were in any way lucky because they didn't make the keeper work.

"We had the two best chances of the second half, though it may may have been a bit cruel on Swansea to go 3-1.

"I thought we played better than that at Shrewsbury, but without the quality in the last third. That's football. That's the kind of performance that gets you promotion or into the play-offs . . . it's not perfect, but you grind it out and get your three points or your one point."