KEMAR Roofe hailed the best night of his career after bagging both goals as Oxford United stormed to a fifth successive derby victory against Swindon Town.

The forward finished off touches from Ryan Taylor either side of half-time as the visitors were ripped apart following Jordan Turnbull’s red card.

It took several smart saves from Swindon goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux to keep the score down against a rampant United, who progressed to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area quarter-finals next month.

Roofe has had some memorable displays in a run of 14 goals in his last 19 games, but declared this was the highlight.

He said: “Yeah it’s special. I’ve never done that before and it meant so much to the fans as well.

“I can’t describe the feeling of walking out to a packed house, it’s crazy.

“Both of the goals were about anticipation, I didn’t really think about it, but I’ve got to put them down to Tayls (Ryan Taylor).

“We could have got more, but we can’t be greedy and hopefully we saved some goals for Saturday.

“I’m not from round here so I’ve been getting told by fans what it means.”

Jake Wright spoke in the build-up about the importance of keeping their heads.

The U’s skipper was kicked by Turnbull for the red card and was delighted to see the home side get through the game without a booking.

He said: “Obviously they didn’t talk about it.

“The centre half got carried away, there was nothing in it, but he just tried to trip me up – it was a ridiculous thing to do.

“When I spoke to the press (pre-match) I was careful to say they were favourites, but we backed ourselves and when we saw their team, we thought we could run over them.

“We said if we start well we can win this game – and we did.”

The game attracted a crowd of 9,013 and head coach Michael Appleton paid tribute to the role they played.

He said: “It was absolutely incredible and those scenarios lift players massively.

“I was speaking to Browny (goalkeeping coach Wayne Brown) just before the final whistle and he was saying he’s been here five years and not seen this.

“That was the type of atmosphere in the stadium.”

The U’s boss also revealed Sam Slocombe, who missed the game with a dead leg, should be fully recovered before AFC Wimbledon’s visit to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

  • Video via Oxford United's official Youtube channel