DES Buckingham says his Oxford United side won’t get carried away after claiming their biggest league win of the season with a 4-0 victory at home to Fleetwood Town.

The U’s romped into a 3-0 lead by half-time, courtesy of strikes from Cameron Brannagan, Mark Harris and a first goal for the club for Owen Dale.

Harris then netted the fourth goal of the afternoon with a heavily deflected effort late in the second period, as United remained level on points with sixth-placed Lincoln City.

U’s head coach Buckingham said: “I think we’ve played as well as that in the last two, but we just haven’t got the goals to show for it, and that was the pleasing thing today.

“The performance was very good, the four goals certainly were, the clean sheet is, and the three points are the most pleasing thing to make sure we keep track of where we want to be.

“That’s what we need take to Burton now, and that’s how we need to finish this season. We’ve shown the type of football we want to play.

“I spoke about arriving at this point in the season in a strong position, and we’re certainly in that at the moment.

“We won’t get carried away with it, but we need to make sure we work as hard as we have over the last couple of next weeks, as we now progress and look ahead to Burton.”

In keeping out the Cod Army, United claimed their first clean sheet on home soil since the 3-0 win against Burton Albion in mid-December.

Buckingham said: “Everyone talks about what we want to do with the ball most of the time, when they talk about a playing style, but often forget the other side of it.

“If you don’t do the other side, and we speak a lot about this, with the hard work and the understanding of roles, it stops the ball getting to you as often as you can, and that always puts you in a strong position.”

On chasing down the Imps for the final play-off spot, Buckingham said: “It’s not about looking at them, it’s about making sure we do what we need to do.

“I’m delighted we’ve been able to put that on at home because we’ve done that away in the past couple of games, but haven’t got the goals that we deserve.

“It’s a good start and sets us up well for Burton, and we’ll do our best to come back from there with three points.

“Then we have three very important home games, which we’ll be doing as much as we can, together with the fans.”

He added: “It’s always enjoyable after a win, especially after a 4-0 win, and it puts a smile on everybody’s face. I’m sure the players will report back with a spring in their step, but we know how short football is and how quickly that can turn.

“It’s about making sure we build on what we’ve just seen, and over the last couple of weeks, and that when we face those three home games, we’re in a very strong position to keep it in our hands.”