Robinson in tears at Baptiste’s injury KO
TOP scorer Neal Maupay’s second-half penalty was enough to send Brentford through in a horror afternoon for Oxford.
The Frenchman sent keeper Simon Eastwood the wrong way from the spot to bag his 16th goal of the season just minutes after coming off the bench to give the Championship side victory over their League One opponents.
Maupay cut in from the left wing and delayed his shot but was clipped by Curtis Nelson and ref Jeremy Simpson pointed to the spot.
It capped a miserable afternoon for Oxford boss Karl Robinson, who was close to tears on the touchline as substitute Shandon Baptiste was carried off with a serious knee injury.
“This was his first game back from a bad injury after nearly three months out,” said Robinson. “I saw the pain and adversity he went through and how he came back the hard way, running his socks off.
“It doesn’t look good, but we’ll pray that the scan brings us better news on Monday. I’m on the floor with him and was nearly in tears.”
Baptiste suffered a suspected rupture of a cruciate ligament when he fell awkwardly in a challenge with Bees midfielder Josh McEachran.
The Bees created a string of chances in a one-sided first half but lacked a cutting edge.
Early on it was all Brentford, former Arsenal youngster Josh Dasilva testing Eastwood with a 25yard drive that the Oxford keeper pushed wide.
Brentford left-back Rico Henry twice went close at the far post as first Odubajo and then Said Benrahma drilled in low crosses.
But the League One side stood firm and former Brentford midfielder John Mousinho almost came back to haunt his former side but fired wide. That let-off saw the introduction of Maupay, who gave the hosts’ forward line more purpose – and his presence proved decisive with the penalty moments later.
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank said: “I would definitely prefer other players to be scoring from other positions as well, but the good signs are that both our wing backs had chances to get on the scoresheet today.
“They are all very good young players and still learning and developing.”