RYAN Williams says a difficult week at Oxford United has provided a sense of perspective.

The U’s paid tribute to Joey Beauchamp before the 4-2 win over Cambridge United, having announced the club legend’s death the previous Saturday.

The Oxford-born winger played 428 games for United across two spells, scoring 77 goals, and his £1million move to West Ham United in 1994 helped keep his boyhood side in business.

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It meant plenty of tears were shed during the pre-match tributes and Williams certainly felt the emotion.

He said: “I had quite a big lump in my throat.

“Seeing his family makes you think about your family and makes you grateful for what you have and thankful for Joey, because the club wouldn’t be here without him.

“I’m just glad we got to send him off in style.”

The 28-year-old added: “It’s been a week to reflect and be grateful, go home and give the loved ones extra kisses and cuddles because you never know what’s around the corner.

“It’s been bittersweet, it gives you a fresh perspective on things and resets your thinking in terms of what you have.”

Williams played a part in all four U’s goals from right back as the hosts twice cancelled out Sam Smith strikes before going on to claim three points.

It kept United fourth in Sky Bet League One as they came from behind to win for the third time in four home games.

Before that, the U’s had only triumphed after trailing once this season and Williams credited a change of mentality.

He said: “One thing that got us unstuck before was that when teams scored first we got a bit nervous, whereas you just need to look around and see how much quality some of the boys have.

“Defensively everyone’s working a lot harder and we’ll always create chances no matter what.

“We tend to score a lot of those chances too, so if we can keep them out at the other end we’ll win more games.”