Middlesbrough have waited too long for a rival manager to say what Des Buckingham did

Middlesbrough always felt that results like this would come - in that sense, they've been waiting a long time to hear an opposition manager say what he said of them in his post-match analysis.

Having tipped Boro for a play-off place before the match, the Oxford head coach's praise proved well-founded as he watched on as Boro ruthlessly fired six goals past his side in a 6-2 victory at the Kassam Stadium - the first time since 1960 that Boro have scored so many away from home, and only one shy of a club record.

And with that in mind, as Buckingham tried to make sense of what had unfolded, he described Boro as exactly what they've been hoping for, for quite some time now. Far removed was this from the frustrating post-match opposition manager interview of the early-season which spoke of plenty of quality and potential, but knowing how to beat Boro.

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“It shows the ruthlessness that this league certainly has," the Oxford boss said. "They were very clinical in their finishing and were the better team for the majority of that game. We were in a good game for 30 or 35 minutes, and I thought we deserved to go one up, and then we had a ten-minute spell where they got the penalty, and then quickly got a second that put them in front, and ended it going into the half 3-1 up, and that shows how quick and clinical it can be.

"Middlesbrough really showed their quality. Even at 1-1, we had a wonderful chance with Mark Harris nearly going round the goalkeeper, and those moments change games. That’s the first team that have really opened up that scoreline against us for a long, long time. If that was every week, I’d be very concerned, but we just need to go back to what we’re very good at, and what we have been good at, and we’ll certainly make sure we do that for Tuesday.

"We have to get on with it. We’ve seen the quality of this league, and also of this Middlesbrough side. They’re on a decent run of form, hitting some big scorelines in recent games. Don’t get me wrong, nobody wants to come in and see a scoreline like that at all, but we won’t dwell on it.”