The win moves Oxford to just one point off the third automatic promotion place, and gave everybody connected with the club a big lift.
A further boost came when manger Ian Atkins named striker Steve Basham in his starting line-up; United's leading scorer has been sat on the sidelines for the past month with a hamstring injury. He made a tremendous difference to the United side who dominated large parts of the game, but offered little threat in front of goal.
To their credit, Cheltenham battled throughout and but for some last-ditch defending by the home side, would have snatched a point.
Oxford face a tough trip to Mansfield on Saturday. League leaders Doncaster play Darlington, while Huddersfield can go level on points with 2nd-placed Hull City if they win at Northampton as the Tigers are not in action.
Click here to see the full report of this game or click here to see how it affects the league table.