OXFORD United tweaked formation to help bring to an end an eight-game run without a win.

The U’s switched to a 3-4-2-1 set-up at home against Hull City, and it was right wing back Hidde ter Avest, making his first start, who scored the only goal of the game.

Here are the key talking points from the clash against the Tigers.

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Change in formation for United

The natural place to start is with the system alteration. Since the chastening 5-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers in March, U’s head coach Des Buckingham has instilled his preferred 4-3-3 set-up.

It helped United reach and then win last season’s Sky Bet League One play-offs, before an encouraging start to the current campaign in the Championship.

For it to be at its most efficient though, pace and power are required out wide.

The U’s however are without Siriki Dembele, Kyle Edwards, Matt Phillips and Przemyslaw Placheta due to injury.

It’s left United down on numbers, and when coupled with a drop-off in results, a change in system seemed a sensible option.

We saw it in the second half at Sunderland, with a 3-5-2 used that afternoon, but it was 3-4-2-1 which Buckingham opted for against the Tigers.

The U’s have just one more game before the November international window, after which the injury list is expected to ease.

Whether Buckingham sticks with the new set-up for the trip to Watford on Friday night will be the trickiest conundrum for him to solve right now.

A game of two halves

Despite the result, it wasn’t exactly plain-sailing for United. The Tigers were on top for much of the second half, and if not for an excellent Jamie Cumming save and a Mohamed Belloumi strike smacking the post, the visitors could easily have led at the break.

Hull were particularly dangerous down their right-hand side, with Belloumi managing to escape the attention of both Greg Leigh, leaving Ciaron Brown exposed against the winger.

The U’s tightened that up in the second half though, and looked much more comfortable after the break.

Summer signing ter Avest stabbed United in front 10 minutes after the restart, and while a killer second goal wasn’t found, the U’s managed to defend their box and see out the game professionally.

Width from the wing backs

Pretty much any system with three centre halves relies on the wing backs to provide not just width, but awareness at both ends of the pitch.

As touched upon, Leigh recovered from an iffy first half, and his wonderful cross provided the assist for ter Avest, who put in a man of the match display.

It wasn’t just his goal, but his drive up and down the right. The Dutchman saw a header saved in the first half, while his defensive skills were on display when he stepped in front of Kasey Palmer just as the Tigers attacker looked set to pull the trigger.