OXFORD United will be in tomorrow night’s Emirates FA Cup second round draw, but they made hard work of seeing off a spirited Hayes & Yeading United.

The Sky Bet League One visitors looked every inch the four divisions above their hosts in a first half they dominated.

But for all the pressure they only held a 1-0 lead at the break, courtesy of Sam Long’s close-range finish.

Hayes came on strongly in the second half, even after Rob Hall doubled the lead within seconds of coming on.

U’s goalkeeper Simon Eastwood was needed to make three good saves to preserve his clean sheet, as the underdogs fought all the way to the full-time whistle.

Robinson stayed true to his pre-match promises he would name a strong side.

The XI showed four changes from the side which began the 1-1 draw at Portsmouth last weekend, with the fit-again Chris Cadden coming in alongside Elliott Moore, Anthony Forde and Shandon Baptiste.

Despite the wet weather in the build-up, the Hayes & Yeading pitch looked good and United quickly settled.

But after goalkeeper Jack Smith began a busy afternoon by fielding long-range efforts from Baptiste and Tariqe Fosu, the hosts forged an opening.

A long ball from Jacob Cook found Hassan Jalloh, but under pressure from Cadden he fired into the side netting.

It was a reminder of the danger if United switched off and they responded by utterly dominating their opponents for the rest of the half.

In what increasingly resembled an attack versus defence training session, Hayes were forced to dig in and were unable to get a foothold in the game.

Matty Taylor had a goal correctly disallowed for offside on 17 minutes from Cadden’s cross, before Fosu rattled the crossbar from the edge of the box.

James Henry looked certain to open the scoring midway through the half when he sliced through the defence.

But after exchanging passes with Taylor, the skipper lost all composure and blazed over so wildly that stewards quickly called off the search for the ball in the thick bushes behind the goal.

Smith came out on top in a one-on-one with Taylor, but on 29 minutes United finally broke through.

The goalkeeper palmed Taylor’s header on to the woodwork and rebounded for Long to convert into the net from close range.

United kept pouring forward, but the closest they came to a second goal before the break was from a dipping Fosu free-kick which hit the post and rebounded into Smith’s arms.

But while they had controlled the game, Hayes were still in the game at only 1-0 down and they went on to make life uncomfortable for United in the opening 20 minutes of the second half.

Joe Grant had a great chance to equalise from Obi’s cross, but his flicked finish was straight at Simon Eastwood.

The United goalkeeper was then forced to tip over a rising shot from Obi after he had got the better of Rob Dickie.

But the nerves were settled within a minute of Hall coming on, with the substitute latching on to Taylor’s clever pass and coolly lifting the ball over Smith and into the net.

It gave United breathing space, but did not kill off a Hayes side who kept Eastwood busy.

The goalkeeper twice denied Jaloh, the second of which was a terrific one-handed stop to keep out the forward’s glancing header at a corner.

Hayes & Yeading (4-4-1-1): Smith, Grant, McDevitt, Robinson, Williams, Rowe (Little HT), Cook (Della-Verde 84), Donnelly (Toomey HT), Jalloh, Clark, Obi.

Unused subs: McCorkell, Della-Verde, Piorkowski, Switters, Weight.

Booked: Rowe, Della-Verde.

Oxford Utd (4-3-3): Eastwood, Cadden, Dickie, Moore, Long, Gorrin, Baptiste (Sykes 75), Henry, Forde (Hall 68), Taylor (Agyei 90), Fosu.

Unused subs: Stevens, Mousinho, Jones, Mackie.

Booked: None.

Referee: Darren Handley (Lancashire).

Attendance: 1,501 (719 visitors).