Carly Johns scored her ninth goal of the season from the spot, before Nicole Pepper missed her penalty in added time to let United off the hook.
MK Dons provided a real test for United, who struggled to find their rhythm and in the end were fortunate to leave with a win. The U's now sit five points above Watford who have two games in hand.
618 fans watched on at Stadium MK and all were in awe of Player of the Match Rose Kite’s wonder save to tip the ball round the post in the 87th minute.
“In this weather it’s horrible for a goalkeeper, you can’t catch anything and so it has to be a parry day. It’s difficult but we coped, and we got the three points so that’s all that matters. They’re a very good side and they proved it out on the pitch today. We battled well and I think I made some saves that if I didn’t it’s a completely different game” said the Oxford keeper.
Pepper missed her first penalty in three years for MK Dons, topping off an excellent day for Kite.
“You just have to try and get in their head and try to wobble them to try and take them off their track. I always have a plan in my head and I know what I want to do and I stuck to it” she added.
It was a much slower first half than Oxford are used to, and Manager Liam Gilbert was pleased with his side’s reaction at the break.
“Now that we can calm down a little bit we can reflect! Even though it’s only ended 1-0, it was quite open at times and end to end. Any of our chances or theirs could have gone in. It was a good advert for women’s football. MK are a very good side, a very young team that played some really nice football. We struggled to deal with it at times, but when we changed things at half time we were brilliant” said Gilbert.
“The players really stood up for each other and I was really happy to see that change and the subs that came on had a fantastic impact. It wasn’t our greatest day but the fact that we have that mentality in our group of people, to grind out a result, is testament to who we are” he added.
Now the U’s look ahead to the Oxfordshire County Cup on the weekend. Oxford will give the chance to their high-flying Development Squad to play the game against Kidlington Youth on Sunday, the 20th of November.
“George (Anthony) is doing a great job with the Development team. We have some really exciting players coming through and it gives fans the chance to come and see what they’re all about. Now they’re going to go and play against a senior team which will be a great challenge for them” said Liam Gilbert.