DAVID HODGSON thought his side were fortunate not to finish the game with ten men on Saturday, but the player who he feared could have been sent off was quick to contradict his manager's sentiments.

Simon Johnson insists there was no malice intended, claiming his elbow on Oxford winger Andy Burgess was accidental.

Johnson had already been booked when he raised an arm on the stroke of half-time to shield the ball from Burgess.

At 22, Johnson has never been dismissed for the seven clubs he has played for in 88 appearances - a statistic which only backs up his strenuous denial.

"The gaffer thought I used an elbow, but I'll have a look at the video and I honestly don't think I did," said Johnson. "I'd never go in to intentionally hurt anyone.

"I'm a competitive player and I was trying to win the ball by getting my body in front of one of their lads."

With that stay of execution, Johnson was still on the pitch to score his sixth goal of the season in second-half injury-time.

Quakers have now lost just once in their last nine games and Saturday's win takes Hodgson's men into the play-off zone for the first time since September.

Johnson puts Quakers' recent upsurge in fortunes down to team, rather than individual, effort.

"We're on a bit of a roll now and the consistency with every individual is getting better and better," said Johnson. "Collectively, it's helping us all perform better as a team.

"If we can carry that over into the next two or three games that will put us in good stead to stay in the top seven."

Hodgson will also take plenty of encouragement from the openings his side produced in the final third.

On-loan striker Kyle Lafferty had several opportunities to score before and after Jonjo Dickman's 47th minute opener.

"I think we created enough chances in the game to kill them off earlier than we did," said Johnson.

"We didn't get the ball down and play as well as we know we can in the first half. Sometimes that's to be expected in this league."

Johnson is no stranger to the Football League's bottom tier, having made his professional debut on-loan from Leeds at Hull.

Since then the West Bromwich-born player has played in all four divisions - for Leeds, Blackpool, Sunderland, Doncaster, Barnsley and now Darlington.

It was following his free transfer move from Leeds during the summer that Johnson struck up a forward partnership with Clyde Wijnhard, which promised so much, yet failed to blossom.

While Wijnhard moved to Macclesfield under a cloud, two goals in Johnson's first 13 appearances was not the return Hodgson had hoped for.

But such is Hodgson's faith in Johnson's undoubted ability, the player has been re-invented as a winger, with relative success.

In a four-man midfield Johnson and Carlos Logan have operated as wide men. But, in a 4-5-1 formation - as deployed in the opening 45 minutes on Saturday - the pair play off a lone front-man.

It is a move which has paid off for Hodgson, whose side have now found the net on 17 occasions in their last nine games.

"Earlier in the season we had chats as a group and we all agreed that we weren't creating enough chances," revealed Johnson.

"Going forward we didn't really have that cutting edge. But we've really started to kick on since Christmas and we are scoring goals."

After a goalless first-half on Saturday, the introduction of substitute Akpo Sodje and the switch to a 4-4-2 formation effectively sealed only Quakers' third away win of the season.

Johnson admitted: "We played 4-5-1 in the first half and Kyle was winning a lot of balls, but he wasn't getting the support.

"Sodje was tremendous in the second half when we switched to a 4-4-2. He was winning headers and linking up well with Kyle - they caused Oxford all sorts of problems."

But it wasn't until the third minute of injury-time that Johnson put the game beyond the Us.

After rounding keeper Chris Tardif, Johnson saw his shot only half-blocked by Mark E'Beyer as the ball trickled over the goal-line.

He said: "I went around the keeper, but saw the defender out of the corner of my eye get back on the line so I didn't hit it straight away.

"My second touch was a bit heavy, which let the defender get a foot in, but it was enough. I think I needed that bit of luck."

The low key reaction of Johnson and his team-mates at the full-time whistle suggested that, with another 17 games still to play, there is still a lot of work to be done.

"We're not getting carried away with ourselves and there's a lot of games to play," said Johnson.

"We have to pick up as many points as possible and ensure we are in the play-offs, if not better."

* Tresor Kandol made a non-scoring return to the Dagenham and Redbridge team on Saturday in their 2-1 win over Tamworth.

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