Gary Rowett hails Brian De Keersmaecker’s ‘complete performance’ in Oxford win

Gary Rowett hailed the contribution of midfielder Brian De Keersmaecker after his Oxford side had defied the form book to earn a first Championship win of the season at Ashton Gate.

Nik Prelec headed the visitors in front from De Keersmaecker’s precise free-kick after 19 minutes and Przemyslaw Placheta doubled the lead with a superb left-footed strike from 25 yards just before the break.

Anis Mehmeti pulled a goal back for City with an equally stunning shot from distance in the 53rd minute, only for De Keersmaecker to settle matters in the last minute of normal time with another free-kick into the box that may have taken the slightest of touches off the head of substitute Greg Leigh before curling past City goalkeeper Radek Vitek.

A delighted Rowett said: “Brian De Keersmaecker has the ability to be a top player. We watched him a lot before signing him and today he gave a complete performance.

“He had injury problems at the start of the season, but since then has shown glimpses of what he can do. This was his best game and there is much more to come from him.

“I felt he scored our third goal, but Greg Leigh went straight to our fans as though it was his and maybe that has worked in his favour. If he did get a hair to the ball it wasn’t much more than that!

“I’m really pleased because apart from a spell of 10 or 15 minutes in the second half, I felt we were in control of the game.

“You are always going to come under pressure when a home team pull a goal back and that was the case for a while, but we rode it out and were worth our win.

“We have hardly been able to field the same team all season. I think the performance today showed that we can realistically aim for a top-half finish in the Championship this season, although that will be tough to achieve.”

For Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber, it was a first Championship defeat since taking charge.

He said: “We were not good at set-pieces today. Up to this game we have been very good, but today we were not sharp enough or sufficiently prepared for balls into our box.

“Oxford play very direct and had a good plan against us. Losing Rob Atkinson to a knee injury so early in the game obviously had an effect, but we should have coped better.

“We will know more about his injury when he has had a scan. The same applies to Max Bird, who was not in the squad today because of a calf problem.

“In both boxes today, we were not of our normal standard. We had chances to score in the first half but were not sharp enough to take them.

“The players are super disappointed in the dressing room because we expected to win the game. Expectation levels are high at the club and that is a good thing.

“We felt the corner that led to Oxford’s second goal should not have been given, but these things happen in football and we needed to defend it better.

“The result showed how competitive the Championship is. You cannot let your standards slip as we did today.”