It was a hair-raising evening at the Kassam and Oxford eventually cut it close before brushing aside Barnet (I'll get my coat).
Ryan Clarke's late penalty save secured a win for promotion hopefuls Oxford.
Clarke, 29, shut out 21-goal hotshot Izale McLeod after defender Damian Batt had up-ended striker Ricky Holmes in the box in the 84th minute.
Scott Rendell, 25, claimed his first Oxford goal since his deadline day loan signing from Wycombe to trigger a fightback.
Southampton loanee winger Lee Holmes picked out Rendell with a pin point cross and the striker nodded in from five yards two minutes before the break.
James Constable sealed the win in the 56th minute.
Rendell's shot from eight yards was blocked in a crowded box, but co-striker Constable pounced on the rebound to prod in from one yard for his eleventh goal of the campaign.
Barnet defender Michael Hector opened the scoring with his second of the season in the 16th minute with a low 20 yard shot.
Oxford boss Chris Wilder was delighted with his team's win and said:
"It was down to the boys to get us out of a hole when we went behind and they did.
We had enough of the play and enough opportunities to win the game comfortably. We had two or three chances in the first half when we should've been out of sight, but we weren't."
Wilder also paid tribute to keeper Ryan Clarke who made a late penalty save after shrugging off a stomach bug and dragging himself off his sick bed to play. Wilder said:
"I'm in debt to our keeper for making the save, but credit also goes to our scout who watched McLeod score a penalty recently and reported back to us. Mind you Ryan still had to stop it."
Disappointed Barnet manager Lawrie Sanchez said:
"I thought we did well early on and got the lead. It woke them up though and we were under the cosh for the next twenty minutes.
We started stroking the ball around well in the last twenty minutes and we should have got something from the game, but we didn't."
My clipping from this morning's paper alongside the League Two table which shows a handy five point gap between Oxford and the play-off 'chasers'.
N.B. Swindon and Cheltenham fans should note that their clubs were cut from the scan accidentally and - for those who are unaware - they are, respectively, first and second in the table :-)
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