Oxford were excellent - Warne

Last updated : 22 October 2019 By Millersmad

I thought it was a contest between two very good teams." Warne said. "The first half was quite equal.​ I honestly thought in the second half we would go out and win, but they kept their attacks going better than we did. In the final third, our cross or set-piece wasn't right.​"

“We didn’t win enough one-v-one battles, that’s probably the nicest way of putting it, The standout player wasn’t on my team today; Fosu caused us all sorts of problems. Every time he won it back, he got them up the pitch. We just probably didn’t have a similar starlet, really.

“With 25 minutes to go, we’re 2-1 down at home and throwing the kitchen sink. It opens it up for the counter-attack, so I’m grateful to my goalkeeper for keeping the score-line decent. I just didn’t think we finished with enough balls into the box and getting into good positions to cross it but breaking down.

“I didn’t think we were strong enough on attacking set-pieces, either. Obviously, goals change games and they were on top and deserved their goal. It’s disappointing someone so small has scored a header against us. Overall I think they were better than us, that’s the honest answer. Overall, I am disappointed that we lost, but we have lost to a very good team. Full respect to Karl Robinson, I thought his team were excellent.​"

“The disappointing thing for me was to concede their second goal, Their first goal was a screamer. But for us to concede a headed goal off the smallest player on the pitch is a bit tough to take. They're in the best form in the division and they have threats all over the pitch. You could see they're a good team. They just had a little bit more than we did in the final third.”

“I’m a positive sort of guy, I don’t want to lose home games or any games, but they didn’t come to sit behind the ball and time-waste – both teams were trying to win and, if you were a neutral, you probably thoroughly enjoyed it. But if we’re going to have a successful season, home games are essential.