KARL Robinson was pleased to see Ciaron Brown score a late winner for Oxford United after ‘one of the hardest weeks’ for the defender.
Brown’s booking in the Emirates FA Cup defeat against Arsenal on Monday night is being investigated due to alleged spot-fixing.
The FA opened an inquiry into suspicious betting patterns surrounding the yellow card shown to Brown.
The Northern Ireland international popped up with the winning goal though as United came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at Fleetwood Town yesterday.
On the whistle report as Ciaron Brown completes a late comeback win for #oufchttps://t.co/HoO7bvsiRr
— Oxford Mail OUFC (@OxfordMailOUFC) January 14, 2023
U’s head coach Robinson said: “I said to him I’m so proud of how he’s conducted himself, he’s been impeccable throughout the course of all these allegations.
“There’ll be a meeting at the FA headquarters, sooner rather than later we hope.
“What really frustrates me is that people throw mud at you and it sticks, you have to prove your innocence.
“The kid just wants to play football, now he’s got to prove his innocence.
“He said it’s been one of the hardest weeks he’s ever had.
“On reflection, he probably shouldn’t have played – he’s found this week long and hard, but he scored the winning goal so we’ll take that.
“We’ll get around him, look after him and protect him, and I think as a team, we’ve done that all week.”
READ MORE: Karl Robinson addresses rumours linking James Henry with move away from club
Robinson replaced Marcus McGuane with Billy Bodin at half-time, having watched his side concede just before the break.
Explaining his decision take off McGuane, Robinson said: “We knew first half, it was going to be difficult and we needed Marcus’ power.
“We felt in the second half, how many goalscorers could we get on the pitch?
“We were getting beaten and kicking with the wind.
“Billy’s one of our highest goalscorers in the league this season so getting him on the pitch was always going to be important.”
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