DES Buckingham was full of praise for Josh Murphy after the winger impressed in Oxford United’s Emirates FA Cup win at home to Grimsby Town.

Marcus McGuane gave the U’s an early lead, before Billy Bodin headed in the second goal of the afternoon with quarter of an hour to go.

The victory sealed United’s place in the third round, with Murphy in particular catching head coach Buckingham’s eye.

The winger has played 14 times for the U’s this season, but just three of those have been starts.

In addition to beginning against the Mariners this afternoon, Murphy’s other two times in the starting line-up were both in the EFL Trophy.

Buckingham said: “I don’t like singling people out, but I think the whole team were very good, very organised and very professional in how they approached it.

“The one player on the left side was Murph, I thought he was very good. He’s one of many in the team that are very keen to show me and show others what he can do, and I thought he had a wonderful game.

“He came off just to make sure we managed him because we’ve got a lot of games coming up, and it was a chance to get others on. His performance, I thought, was very good.”

He added: “The professionalism in terms of how we approached the game coming off a very tough game on Tuesday evening against Bolton, coming into the cup against a team in the division below.

“I know there’s sometimes a perception that people can take their foot off the gas a little bit and switch off. I didn’t see that this evening, I saw a very well-organised and disciplined team, certainly in the first half.

“We could’ve scored more a couple more, but if we make sure we keep doing that, I’ll be very happy.

“If we continue to set ourselves up and the players continue to hold themselves to those standards, especially out of possession, when we win the ball, we know we can break and we’ll get chances, and we’ll know those players will convert.”