Craig Short experienced a wave of emotion as he witnessed his Oxford side record a 3-2 away win at Leyton Orient.

Appointed on an interim basis after boss Liam Manning resigned earlier in the week before joining Bristol City, he saw the U’s take a three-goal lead with a double from Ruben Rodrigues and a goal by Billy Bodin before a Fin Stevens own goal and a strike by leading scorer Ruel Sotiriou gave Orient a lifeline.

“It was a fantastic game for the neutral but awful emotionally for us in the dugout,” Short admitted. “You always feel like that but for them to score so soon after we got the third goal put them on the front foot.

“I said to the lads after the game if you’re playing against a football-playing side it can be more predictable but because they were so for direct and overloaded the box it created problems and that’s the way it happens sometime.

“But we managed it fairly well and the subs made a difference for us.

“Just because we started well the first then minutes you can’t expect to come away from home and win the game. They came back and we weathered the storm in the first half and then got the two goals and the third in the second half which we needed.

“It wasn’t pretty but Orient have had one defeat in nine so it’s a scalp for us away from home.”

Asked about his prospects of keeping the job on a permanent basis, he responded: “Personally I’m just getting on with it. I’ve enjoyed the responsibility and am lucky to have great people around me who care about the club.”

O’s boss Richie Wellens said: “For the first 50 minutes it was very reminiscent of the Portsmouth league game where we played well in parts but conceded just before half-time.

“We just didn’t affect the game and looked like we were a team feeling sorry for ourselves. I am proud we responded when we were 3-0 down. We got a response straight away but I am disappointed we didn’t stick to the game plan so it was frustrating.

“We thought they had certain weaknesses where we could play forward and dominate them physically and when we had patches where we stuck to that it caused problems.

“We found ourselves 2-0 down but it was only because of our own mistakes and they could have had a couple more but I never felt like they would cause us problems or cut us open on the counter-attack.

“We showed a little bit of lack of experience but I was proud of the players and we have still got a lot of improvement in us.”

Oxford secured their sixth away win in Sky Bet League One as a 3-2 triumph at Leyton Orient gave interim manager Craig Short the perfect start.

A brace from Ruben Rodrigues and one from Billy Bodin proved decisive, with the hosts replying with a Fin Stevens own goal and a strike from Ruel Sotiriou.

A howler by Sol Brynn presented the visitors – who saw boss Liam Manning take over at Bristol City this week – with the opening goal. The goalkeeper’s intended clearance was directed straight to Rodrigues, who drove the ball into an empty net.

Then in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, Rodrigues struck a post but the ball fell to Bodin, who headed the ball into the net from 15 yards out with Brynn stranded.

Within two minutes of the start of the second half, Oxford extended their advantage when Orient failed to clear a corner and Rodrigues scored from close range in the 47th minute before the home side began their revival a minute later.

A teasing Tom James cross was turned into his own net by Stevens and then, in the 64th minute, Sotiriou volleyed home a header by Aaron Drinan before Dan Happe was denied an equaliser when his header struck a post.

Despite coming under sustained pressure, the U’s held out to maintain their automatic promotion quest.