MICHAEL Appleton says nobody is putting Patrick Hoban under more pressure to break his Oxford United duck than the striker himself, writes MARK EDWARDS.

The Irishman squandered two good chances in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Plymouth Argyle at the Kassam Stadium, and has now played 943 minutes without finding the net for the U’s.

Hoban continues to show good link-up play, and while his efforts were appreciated by supporters and teammates alike, Appleton knows the forward is desperate to get that all-important first goal.

“I said to him afterwards, just keep getting in there, doing the right things and asking the questions,” the U’s head coach commented.

“I am still confident he will get goals between now and the end of the season.

“As long as the performances are still there, I’m happy.”

He added: “He will put pressure on himself, of course he will.

“He had a spell when he first went to Dundalk and for his first six or seven games he failed to score, and then he had a spell out the team, but came back and scored a lot of goals.

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“But I think what he’s doing for us off the ball is more than manful.”

Appleton was happy with his side’s display and said because the game was so tight, he did not want to change things too much late on.

“I think it was always going to be a tight affair, I flagged that up beforehand,” he said.

“After missing the early opportunities, I think we knew it was going to be a game that was either 0-0 or decided on a mistake.

“It was a cagey game, with lots of play in between the boxes.

“As it wore on, I was concerned that we looked so solid I didn’t want to disrupt that too much.”