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Beattie delighted with safety

Image: James Beattie: Grateful to all his players

James Beattie personally thanked all his players after their 2-1 win over Oxford at the Kassam Stadium guaranteed Accrington safety.

Goals from Kayode Odejayi and James Gray proved enough for Stanley to get the three points they needed to ensure League Two football for another season. Ryan Williams pulled a goal back for Oxford in the 67th minute, but a 10th defeat in their last 14 games means it has been a catastrophic collapse for the U's after they topped the table in December. York's 1-0 win over Newport secured the Minstermen a play-off place, leaving Oxford's new boss Gary Waddock to lick his wounds after his players were booed off at the final whistle Beattie, though, was delighted. He said: "It was a fantastic win for us. The recovery is now 100 per cent complete. All season we believed. "We embarked on a journey as soon as I walked through the door and although we had a sticky patch at one stage, to do it in style as we did today, and to make sure we've secured (Football) League football for another season is a great achievement for the club. "We came here knowing we wanted to quieten the home crowd and after 10 minutes you could hear a pin drop in this stand. "When we got ahead we were stressing to the players not to rest on our laurels. "They deserved the result. "We only really caused our own problems, through dilly-dallying at the back or through a couple of individual errors. "I'm just delighted for the players. This time last year I was a player in that dressing room. "It's been a great journey for me in my fledgling football management career."

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