Cameron Brannagan scored four penalties as Oxford ran riot in an impressive 7-2 victory over struggling Gillingham.
Billy Bodin fired the visitors in front after eight minutes, brilliantly cutting inside Max Ehmer to poke past Pontus Dahlberg at the end of an incisive counter-attack.
Oxford doubled their lead soon after as Brannagan coolly converted his first penalty of the afternoon, awarded by Bobby Madley for Olly Lee‘s lunge on Matty Taylor.
Taylor all but sealed Oxford’s win just 19 minutes into the game when he glanced his header from Bodin’s free-kick into the bottom corner.
Brannagan extended the visitors’ advantage three minutes after half-time with his second spot-kick, one that he won himself after being bundled over by the careless Dahlberg.
The U’s midfielder then became the first player in English football since Gillingham’s Josh Wright nearly five years ago to score a hat-trick of penalties, blazing his third off the inside of the post following Jack Tucker’s foul on Sam Long.
Danny Lloyd beat Oxford goalkeeper Jack Stevens at the second attempt to claim one back for the Gills, who have now gone 14 league games without a victory and sit 10 points from safety.
After substitute Daniel Phillips was adjudged to have handled in the box, Brannagan completed his unforgettable day seven minutes from time with the best of his four spot-kicks.
Gillingham added a second late on through Robbie McKenzie before substitute Anthony Forde slid to knock Ryan Williams’ cross into an empty net for Oxford’s seventh.
