Striker Jamie Guy revealed his relief after getting the breakthrough goal which sent Oxford United on their way in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The on-loan Colchester forward broke the deadlock in the 57th minute to end Hayes & Yeading's resistance, and could easily have gone on to score three or four.

But he wasn't concerned by the chances he squandered, and said the main thing was that he got into the positions to score.

"I think that first goal took the pressure off us a little bit," Guy said.

"In the first half we didn't really get started and when we went in at half-time, we knew we could have done a lot better.

"We came out and we showed what we can do.

"Yes, there were a couple of opportunities for me – the goalkeeper made a good save from one of them – but as long as you get in the positions, then it's all good."

Like the home fans, boss Darren Patterson admitted he was angry with United's showing in the first half – and he let his players know it.

"There were a few raised voices in the dressing room at half-time – and they were all mine!" Patterson said.

"I'm still bemused how we start like that.

"The shape was poor, it was half-hearted, there was no tempo, we weren't passing, we weren't competing, and we were lucky at half-time it was 0-0.

"But I stuck with those 11 players to get us out of it because they were the ones who had got us into that mess.

"You've got to give Hayes credit, but you've got to give us credit as well because I could have made 11 substitutions at half-time, but they've understood what was said and put everything else right.

"The second half we started much brighter, stopped them playing, won the ball higher up the pitch, and got down the sides of them because, at the end of the day, there was a lot of space down the middle."

Guy said: "The gaffer wasn't happy. Then again, none of us were happy with the first-half performance, so he got into us and it did the trick.

"For us, the result was what was important. There were chances for more goals, but we're through to the next round and that's the most important thing."

Patterson added: "It was not exactly how we wanted to get through, but we'll take it.

"It was a much better second 45 minutes. We dominated the second half and it could have been double figures, easily.

"We missed a lot, but I'll take the positives out of that because you've got to get into those places to score goals.

"We're in the wrong position in the league, but we're not that type of team . . . we create chances and play quite good attacking football. And if you keep creating chances, eventually they will go in."