JACK Stevens hailed a hard-fought point as Oxford United held high-flying Wigan Athletic on the road.

The U’s took the lead with a glorious counter-attacking goal midway through the first half, Matty Taylor finishing after great work from Mark Sykes and Cameron Brannagan.

But Wigan hit back through Callum Lang nine minutes before the break and they put United under plenty of pressure late on.

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The U’s held firm to stay sixth in Sky Bet League One and Stevens praised a battling performance at the DW Stadium.

“We all put our bodies on the line and it was enough,” the goalkeeper said.

“It’s a good point when you come away from home against one of the leaders.

“We feel we’re capable of winning these games, but it was backs against the wall in the second half.”

United’s goal was a thing of beauty as they worked the ball from one end of the pitch to the other in a matter of seconds.

Mark Sykes started the move on the edge of his own penalty area and took it back from Cameron Brannagan in the Wigan box, before squaring for Taylor to score his 16th of the season.

“It was a brilliant goal,” Stevens added.

“We always know we’re capable of scoring goals, offensively we can cause anyone problems.

“If we can keep tight at the back we know we have a great chance of winning games.”

United survived a couple of late scares, as Josh Magennis saw an 85th-minute strike ruled out for offside – before Stevens came to his side’s rescue.

The goalkeeper made an instinctive save to deny Wigan centre back Jack Whatmough in stoppage-time and reflected on a game-saving moment.

He said: “I didn’t really see it until late, because it was right in front of me.

“I knew he could only really go into that corner.

“I managed to get a good hand on it round the post so I was happy.”

Head coach Karl Robinson revealed after the game that Sykes had been struggling with a root canal issue and is due to go to the dentist this morning.

Meanwhile, Taylor was suffering from illness and vomiting ‘until 11am’.

Robinson said: “He was a doubt.

“He’s struggled a lot in the last 24 hours.”