Skipper Andy Crosby says that Oxford United's players must do everything they can to prevent a repeat of last season after they fell to a 3-1 defeat at promotion rivals Mansfield.

Keeper Kevin Pilkington gathers as Mark Rawle flies in

The U's are now seventh in the Division 3 table - their lowest position of the season.

And with just six games left, the U's captain knows that they must turn results around quickly if they are not to blow it again.

Oxford fell away badly after Christmas last year, and eventually missed out on the play-offs by one point, having been well placed throughout the season.

A poor run of form, which has seen them win just one of their last ten games, has cast doubts that the same thing could happen again.

"We've got six games left and we have got to dig deep now," Crosby said.

"It was probably a terrific game to watch if you were a neutral, but individual mistakes have cost us dear again.

"We had a lot of points on the board at Christmas time, but in the last few games we have not picked up the points we needed to.

"You can see people thinking about what happened last year, and the lads who were here then are desperate not to let it happen again."

Caretaker manager Graham Rix, still looking for his first win in charge of the U's, could not hide his disappointment at the scoreline.

"I thought we played some great stuff at times, but I am devastated by the goals we gave away," he said.

"We are shipping cheap goals and it is something we need to address urgently."

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