GARY Rowett admitted he was close to taking match-winner Siriki Dembele off just moments before he grabbed the only goal of the game for Oxford United against Watford.
The Hornets were reduced to 10 men after James Abankwah was shown a second yellow card in the 79th minute, and at that point, U’s head coach Rowett was considering replacing Dembele.
Three minutes after the sending off though, Dembele struck past Hornets goalkeeper Egil Selvik from the left channel of the penalty area in what proved to be the all-important winner.
Rowett said: “It was a difficult game, not only the opposition, but a bit of a swirling wind, and it just felt like a difficult game to settle the ball down and settle the game down.
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“I think it helped us to press them and stop any sort of rhythm early on. We never seemed to build any real momentum.
“We had some moments, and I think we were competitive, and I think we showed the pressure of the game. We knew it was a big game.
“Sometimes players don’t take that extra touch or don’t settle the game down. I was pleased that we found a way, I think that was the most important thing.
“We found a way to win the game. It was a great strike from Dembs and just before the red card, I was just about to take him off, so what do I know?
“He came up with the goods. I spoke to him a little bit about that recently, just adding goals and being a little bit more selfish in that final third area, so I was really pleased that he did that.”
The goal was Dembele’s first for United and provided the side with a timely boost in their battle for Sky Bet Championship survival.
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Rowett said: “I felt their right full back [Jeremy Ngakia] actually dealt with him [Dembele] really well in the first half. Sometimes you have to actually say well done to someone one-to-one in dealing with those moments.
“As a winger of course, you want to always get into those attacking positions and you want to always have a little bit of time and space, but not every team lets you do that.
“It was nice for him to come up with the goods, it was a good finish. As soon as we scored, I didn’t want to take the risks and I didn’t care if it was a little bit ugly towards the end.
“It was about us making sure we didn’t concede against 10 men, like we did against Bristol City, and see the game out, and we certainly did that.”
