KARL Robinson felt Oxford United’s character shone through as they held on for their first win at Fleetwood Town.

The U’s rediscovered their ruthless streak in a clinical first 16 minutes as Nathan Holland, Cameron Brannagan and Billy Bodin put them 3-0 up.

They lost control, though, with Ellis Harrison and Cian Hayes scoring either side of half-time as Fleetwood gained the initiative.

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United struggled to relieve the pressure and Ciaron Brown cleared off the line at 3-2, but the visitors held on through ten minutes of stoppage-time to end a run of three straight defeats.

“If you’re ever going to break your curse here it was never going to be easy,” U’s head coach Robinson said.

“We’ve been scintillating in the last three games and got nothing for it, and in the second half today we were horrific and got three points.

“They (Fleetwood) will say they deserved a point and maybe they did today, when we’ve deserved all three in recent games.

“My players’ appetite and desire in a horrific, scrappy affair was sensational.

“I think that showed we’ve got a lot more bottle than what people think.”

Robinson added: “If I’d said to any fan we’d get a scrappy, horrible 3-2 win that we probably didn’t deserve at stages you probably would have shaken my hand and walked out the stadium right away.”

It was the club's first victory at Highbury in eight attempts, having lost five of their previous seven matches.

United were always going to stay eighth in Sky Bet League One but they remain four points shy of the play-offs, thanks to wins for Wycombe Wanderers and Sunderland.

The result sees Fleetwood drop into the relegation zone, despite throwing everything at the U’s in the second half.

It spilled over when second-half substitute James Henry sustained a facial injury in a late aerial challenge with Cod Army captain Tom Clarke and the physios rushed over.

The midfielder is expected to go to hospital and Robinson reckons he could miss the final three games of the season.

He said: “For me, I thought it was a very aggressive challenge.

“But Clarke’s one of the most honest professionals in the league and I’m not going to label him with anything.

“I thought Jamo showed tremendous bravery.

“I’ve very rarely seen blood and scars like I’ve seen in there. I don’t foresee him playing again this year.”