MARK Robins admitted he was “dreading” Oxford United forcing extra-time against his patched-up Coventry City side.

The Sky Blues boss was thrilled to see his side come out 2-1 winners at Wembley, but felt it would have been very tough if the U’s had levelled.

They had four players cup-tied – and a lengthy injury list meant Chris Stokes was asked to make only his fourth start of the season at centre half, while skipper Jordan Willis played with a thigh problem, which forced him off in the second half.

Robins knew his options were limited and if they had let a two-goal lead slip, United would have been in pole position to go on and win in the extra half-hour.

It looked like Michael Appleton’s side would do just that, but Josh Ruffels had a header saved brilliantly by Lee Burge and Gael Bigirimana blocked Phil Edwards’s follow-up on the line.

Boss Robins said: “Oxford got back in it and they were always going to throw caution to the wind in the last few minutes.

“They did and then came the moment really that saved the tie for us. I was dreading going into extra-time.

“Burgey making that save at the end was terrific for us.

“It’s one of those things where it looks like your name’s on the cup.

“We’ve taken two chances, we’ve not had many more than that in fairness, but truth be told we just found a way to win.

“Preparation has been up in the air.

“Chris Stokes hadn’t played for a long time so you were looking at whether he could get through the game.

“Jordan Willis had a thigh strain so we knew he wasn’t going to play for the 90 minutes.

“You were trying to weigh all that up, knowing at some point you might have to make a change.

“Extra time would have been horrendous for us.”

Robins had been in the crowd at the Kassam Stadium last week to watch the U’s tear Bury apart 5-1 and spoke highly of the job Appleton was doing.

He said: “Oxford are a really good side and they’re on an upward curve.

“Appy’s done a fantastic job with them and they played some good stuff, but I think we were a match for them defensively most of the time.”