Jim Smith praised the courage of his new striker Gary Twigg for having the bottle to step up and take the stoppage-time penalty that defeated Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.

Twigg, a second-half substitute, had won the 91st-minute penalty after it looked as though Oxford United's opening match of the Blue Square Premier League was going to end in stalemate.

No-one knew who would take the penalty, because regular spot-kick taker Rob Duffy was off the field.

But Scottish striker Twigg grabbed the ball, placed it on the spot, and then buried it into the bottom left corner to earn the U's a previous 1-0 win.

Smith said: "It took a lot of courage because I didn't know who was going to take the penalty, as Duffy would normally have been taking it, but he took it very well and it was a great result for us.

"We made it hard work for ourselves, not so much with missed chances but we didn't gamble and we had balls going across the six-yard box, particularly in the first half, when I would have expected somebody in there putting it in.

"The way Forest Green played, they were well organised and slowed it down, but we kept going, went to the end and got the reward. Our perseverence paid off."

The U's boss was delighted with Twigg, and admitted regretting not playing him from the start.

"Twiggy came on and held the ball up better and gave us a bit more chance to get in on goal opportunities.

"Yemi (Odubade) missed a great chance and I thought Twiggy should have scored . . . it was a decent save but if he'd gone the other side, he'd have put it in, as I expected him to.

"I regretted not starting with him when some of those balls were going across the six-yard box because he's a goalscorer and he would have sniffed them out. He's a natural predator."

Overall, the new-look United didn't do badly.

"Bearing in mind we had six new faces - and, remember, it's a big game for them, you can see that with nerves coming into play, and the heat - we did OK," Smith said. "Overall they've all got to be pleased with themselves."

Joel Ledgister got the nod up front with Duffy from the start, but he was taken off at half-time.

"Joel let himself down a little bit," said United's manager. "I think he was the most nervous one. He didn't play with the freedom he did against Birmingham."