OXFORD United midfielder Simon Heslop admitted his stunning 30-yard strike for the opening goal on Saturday was “up there” with the best he’s ever scored.

“I’ve struck a couple of decent ones, but it’s up there,” he declared following Oxford’s 4-0 win over Morecambe at the Kassam Stadium.

“I knew I’d hit it well. At first it looked like it was going straight at the keeper, but it just drifted away from him and fortunately he couldn’t get near it.”

Heslop and his teammates were firing in shots from all angles in the first 20 minutes.

“We wanted to get off to a good start, a high tempo, and the shots just came with that.

“I think the front three started well, that helped us, and we kicked on from there.

“In the second half, at times we didn’t know whether to stick or twist, and Clarkey’s made a great save to keep it at 2-0.

“It could have been a nervy last few minutes if that one had gone in. It was a great double save so he should take a lot of credit for that.”

Heslop was also full of praise for hat-trick hero James Constable.

“He just seems to get power in and around the box when it seems he’s got no space to work in,” he said.

The U’s midfielder said it was vitally important for the team to get back to their old ways.

“Our worst performance in the League was probably Accrington, we didn’t create many chances against them. We’d been playing well before that and it was important that we got back to how we were playing.”

l OXFORD’S youth team also hit four goals, beating Hereford 4-2 with Sam Parish (2), Aaron Woodley and Conor McDonagh on target.