DAVID Oldfield lavished praise on his Oxford City side after they claimed an Emirates FA Cup shock.

Few of the watching television audience would have been able to tell it was the hosts who played three divisions lower than Northampton Town, who were beaten 2-1.

After falling behind to Sam Hoskins’ early strike, James Roberts hit back with a rapid equaliser.

The former U’s striker won a penalty after the break, but saw it saved by Jonathan Mitchell.

When Elliot Benyon was then brought down in the box, Josh Ashby took over from 12 yards to strike home the winner.

It was fully merited on the performance overall, which impressed Oldfield.

He said: “The boys worked their socks off – it was such a strong collective group.

“It’s what they’ve been doing all season so we are very proud of them.

“They have all worked day jobs before coming here and it’s a huge credit to them and their attitude.”

The odds of an upset lengthened after Hoskins’ opener, but the underdogs roared back into the game, with Roberts outstanding in particular.

Oldfield said: “I felt we started quite well.

“Maybe we were a bit unfortunate to be a goal down.

“There was an amazing clearance off the line as well, the boys did some very good stuff on and off the ball.”

The reward, other than the £16,972 in prize money, was another meeting with a Sky Bet League One team.

This time City will be away, to Shrewsbury Town, later this month.

It is only the second time in 50 years the club have reached the second round – and they have never been further in the competition.

Oldfield said: “I don’t think we will fear them, but they won’t fear us either.

“We have to work as hard as we can together, but we can’t think about that tonight.

“We just have to be excited.

“We are so sorry for the fans that they couldn’t be here, but hopefully they get some excitement from this.”

A fuming Cobblers boss Keith Curle had no complaints over the result.

He said: “All credit to Oxford, they competed all over the pitch.

“Collectively and individually from us it was nowhere near good enough.”