By Jon Murray ANGRY Oxford United players felt Burnley were virtually handed their dramatic 3-2 win at Turf Moor yesterday.

Andy Payton's 90th-minute winner came after they thought a Burnley played had handled the ball.

And to make matters worse, United had been denied what they were convinced was a penalty at the other end when Phil Whelan's far-post header was deflected for a corner by the hand of Burnley's Graham Branch.

It was a cruel ending to the millennium for the U's after they had stunned the Lancashire club's biggest gate of the season - 14,218 - with their enterprising play and twice taking the lead.

Payton's late, late winner completed his hat-trick, but Oxford United coach Mickey Lewis said: "There was a handball from the lad who knocked it on to him, so it's very disappointing to get done like that. "We were also complaining about a handball for a penalty at the other end. You can't put your hand up there," Lewis said, raising his hand high above his head. "The referee's given a corner, so he obviously thought he hit it.

"I thought it was a really good game actually," Lewis added. "We defended well, but in the end, we just defended two corners badly.

"We'd defended a lot of corners well, but the one you want them to defend, just before they scored, someone was unmarked so we let ourselves down there.

"Having said that, we had opportunities to have gone 3-1 up and killed the game off. There were three or four where we had time in the box . . . Joey Beauchamp had a great chance, and Joey had Matt Murphy free one time.

"I'm not having a go at the players, they've given it everything. And we were playing against one of the best teams in the league."

With the team good on the counter-attack but less so at breaking down opponents' packed defences, United look a much more potent force away from home. At least recalled striker Steve Anthrobus broke his four-month goal drought, lashing in a 16-yard shot in only the third minute to give Oxford the perfect start.

"It was a great strike, he did well. And Derek Lilley, I thought, was superb - he just needs a goal," Lewis said.

"It was a really good game, it was just a shame to get done by virtually the last kick of the game.

"Although Burnley put a lot of people up front and went more direct, we dealt with everything. The last ten minutes we expected to be bombarded a bit.

"The positive thing for us is that we were playing one of the best teams in the league and we were as good as them, if not better at times."

Story date: Wednesday 29 December

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