Oxford United's players were in party mood after a magnificently resilient performance brought them a shock 1-0 victory at high-flying Birmingham and their first away win of the season.

But they were brought down to earth in the dressing room when someone reminded them they might not get their long-awaited win bonus!

A fourth goal of the season from Matt Murphy ended Birmingham's eight-game unbeaten run and helped Malcolm Shotton's team to their first victory in eight games and their first league win on their travels since they triumphed at Manchester City last March.

Said striker Dean Windass: "It's a great result for us, and for the club overall. The lads showed a great professionalism and the team spirit got us through the game.

"The lads are saying in the dressing room it's nice to get a win bonus - but we don't know if we're going to get it or not!"

Windass has been caught up in speculation about whether he could be the next player United try to sell following the collapse of Joey Beauchamp's £800,000 move to Nottingham Forest.

He said: "The speculation in the papers plays on your mind but not once you cross that white line and the game starts. I've had it before, throughout my career. But until somebody makes an offer and puts it on the table, I'm still an Oxford United player.

"It has been unsettling because I've only just the second division. None of the lads in the dressing room have. At the moment it's going sour but there's a great team spirit as we showed with this performance. The lads are all pulling together which is what you need and we'll just let the other antics off the field carry on by themself."

Dutch defender Brian Wilsterman was almost mobbed by delirious United fans as amazing scenes broke out at the final whistle at St Andrews.

He said: "Everyone worked well today, everyone did their job. We actually worked as a team. During training, the manager has tried to get us as we were last year.

"Unfortunately last week we didn't get the points and the confidence went down, but important players were missing then.

"This was a great resut for us. We showed what spirit there is in the team."

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