DANNY Rose praised Oxford United for keeping their discipline in a fractious finish to the 1-1 draw at Mansfield Town.

Referee Ben Toner gave out nine bookings, two-thirds of which went to the home side in a clash which grew increasingly fiery as the game wore on.

United had been warned before the game about the need to keep their cool against a Mansfield side who had seven players shown yellow cards in a 1-0 midweek defeat at Accrington Stanley.

Rose felt the visitors stood up to the challenge and did well to avoid collecting any suspensions.

He said: “I think that’s definitely within our make-up.

“If teams want to have a fight with us, then we’re more than capable of matching them that way.

“We know if we match them in those areas of the game then our quality will come through eventually.”

He added: “It can be difficult, but I think that’s something as a squad we’ve been good at over the past year.

“I think our discipline is up there with the best in the league.

“We’ve been rewarded by other teams losing theirs and more often than not a team has gone down to ten men and we’ve been able to take advantage.

“It’s important that we keep our discipline when it gets a bit heated like that.

“If you do something silly at the end of the day you’re letting the fans and the lads down because you’re getting dragged into something you shouldn’t be doing.”