MATTY Taylor welcomed the return of Oxford United’s ruthless side in the 4-0 drubbing of Northampton Town.

The striker opened the scoring four minutes after the break at the start of an excellent second half for the U’s, before adding the third goal late on.

Mide Shodipo had doubled the lead after the hour mark and Dan Agyei curled home a fourth in stoppage time as United emphatically claimed a first win in seven games.

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The U’s started the night as the joint-second lowest scorers in Sky Bet League One, but displayed a clinical edge that has often been lacking this season.

Taylor was delighted to take his tally for the season to seven in front of the 2,000 United fans in attendance.

The 30-year-old said: “I hadn’t scored since they’ve come back, so it was nice to do that in front of them.

“I love scoring and hopefully they can see a few more fly in.

“We’ve let ourselves down at times with our second-half performances, but it felt like we had that killer instinct and put them to the sword.

“We looked hungry for more – even at the end it looked like we wanted five or six.”

The win also saw United keep a third clean sheet in four league games, after having not kept one before the stalemate with Ipswich Town on December 1.

The U’s had shored up defensively while not firing at the other end of the pitch, but Taylor was thrilled to address the issue.

He said: “We’ve worked hard on the training ground at trying to keep goals out of our net as a unit.

“We’ve been fantastic over the last few games and got some valuable points against the top sides in the division.

“Those results mean nothing if we can’t win games like this, so hopefully we can take it forward.”