Jamie Donley scored his first Oxford United goal as the U's beat Blackburn Rovers in an important game for both sides near the bottom of the Championship table.

Oxford took the lead following a dominant first thirty minutes as Donley smashed the ball home from close range after Myles Peart-Harris had a header saved.

Matt Bloomfield's side move up to 22nd having now won three games on the spin, level on points with Leicester City above them and only one point from safety.

Blackburn, in 20th, are just a point above the bottom three with nine league games remaining as the relegation fight intensifies.

Oxford had a great chance to open the scoring after five minutes as Stan Mills made a dart down the right-hand side and crossed the ball to Will Lankshear whose shot trickled just wide across goal.

Play was stopped in the 15th minute when the Kassam rose to pay its respects to 15-year-old Oxford academy player Amelia Aplin who collapsed and died during a girls academy game on Saturday.

Both sets of fans, the players and coaching staff all applauded as a photo of Amelia was displayed on the club's big screen.

Oxford had another good opportunity just before the half-hour mark as Lankshear made a break forward before being cynically brought down by Sean McLoughlin who was booked.

Minutes later, the U's found a breakthrough as Peart-Harris' diving header was saved but only as far as Donley who was there first to smash the rebound home.

It was his first goal for the club since joining on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window.

Peart-Harris was brought down in the Blackburn box early in the second half but referee David Webb was not convinced the incident was deserving of a spot-kick.

The attacker was then found in plenty of space deep in the Blackburn half just before an hour of play but hit a weak shot at Balazs Toth who scooped up possession with ease.

Blackburn had appeals for a penalty waved away with five minutes remaining as Yuki Ohashi went down in the box amongst an almighty scramble but Oxford managed to clear the danger and see out the win.

Oxford United boss Matt Bloomfield speaking to BBC Radio Oxford:

"We had Amelia in our hearts tonight. I really wanted to do the evening justice with our performance; nothing can replace what her poor parents have suffered this weekend and what they have lost.

"But we wanted to as a football club to pay our respects in the best possible way, respectfully off the pitch and then to try and put a performance in on the pitch that hopefully made a few people smile this evening.

"We are giving it everything we possibly have on the pitch at the moment, there's still loads more work to go and we're not going to get carried away but you can see the spirit that the lads are playing with at the moment."

Blackburn boss Michael O'Neill speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I'm disappointed with the result and performance, particularly in the first half. In the second we were much more improved, but we were poor in the first half and that's where we lost the game.

"Overall it doesn't really matter what system you play when you can't take care of the ball, we gave it away cheaply and that cost us tonight.

"I think we could have been stronger defensively too, we've got nine games left and have to maximise what we can take in those games.

"The squad's extremely stretched and it's unlikely we'll get any of the injured players back before the international break so that will be a challenge."