Oxford United went out of the Papa John’s Trophy at the semi-final stage last night as a 2-0 win for Tranmere sent Rovers through to Wembley.
United boss Karl Robinson was pulling no punches afterwards:
“It was shambolic in the first half from everyone involved” he said. “The staff are part of the team that wins and part of the team that loses so we have to connect ourselves through the good and the bad. In the first half we were bad, in the second I thought we were good but we just missed far too many chances. It was anger at the first half, frustration at the second.
“Sorry to the fans, we let you down, and we are a bit flat now because we have lost to a team from the league below and didn’t really make a game of it in the first half. We let them get a foothold, and that’s not like us. Credit to Tranmere who are a good team and club and I wish them good luck in the final.
“Peter Clarke was coming on for them as a sub late on and I said to him’ they don’t really need you on, we are defending your box for you pretty well’. We could have been there for days and not scored, and that’s not like us.
“No excuses. We played two games close together but the players who played Sunday were the best players tonight. This was a big game for us but you wouldn’t have known and now we have to knuckle down and get back to the league.
“We are one point behind the top six and getting into that group has to be our objective now.”
See the full interview and extended highlights in iFollow.