CONSISTENCY in Oxford United’s system helped them defy their depleted ranks to put in a strong performance against Wigan Athletic, says Karl Robinson.

Injuries and illness meant the U’s were missing 11 first-team players against the Latics, but a 3-2 defeat reflected harshly on the hosts.

In midfield, United had Cameron Brannagan, Herbie Kane and Alex Gorrin unavailable, while James Henry sustained a calf injury in the warm-up.

RATINGS: Every Oxford United player marked out of 10

Billy Bodin replaced the latter, playing alongside Mark Sykes and Marcus McGuane in a 4-3-3 formation, but the trio did well against an experienced Wigan side.

“Continuity in your shape allows you to do that if you have injuries," head coach Robinson said.

“We’ll change it every now and then in what is right for the game, but when we’ve worked all week on a shape it would have been crazy to change our shape to affect the whole team.

“We thought we were best putting one player out of position to keep the shape as strong as we possibly can.”

Henry’s injury meant United named just five substitutes, with only two – John Mousinho and Dan Agyei – boasting Football League experience.

As a result, the U’s tired late on and James McClean was allowed too much space to score Wigan’s winner.

WATCH: Highlights of yesterday's game

Robinson added: “We were just a little bit late in the press.

“We probably could have got out a bit earlier, but we’re talking about a full international who has scored goals year-in, year-out and played in the Premier League most of his career.”

Four United players tested positive for Covid in the build-up and the squad will now have a few days off ahead of the scheduled Boxing Day trip to Portsmouth.

Robinson said: “I think they deserve that. It’s our own internal circuit-breaker.

“Then we’ll take stock as a staff on Monday morning and plan the rest of the week.”