Ian Atkins hit back at supporters who hurled abuse at him over his substitutions at Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

He refused to accept angry fans' claims that his changes caused two points to be dropped as 16th-placed Rovers snatched a late equaliser to force a 1-1 draw.

"What I won't accept is standing in that dug-out and them hurling abuse at me, which was totally out of order. I'm not accepting that off our supporters - I thought that was disgusting," he said.

But Oxford United's manager (above) conceded it was probably a mistake to throw on Jefferson Louis for goalscorer Mark Rawle with half an hour to go, and to leave Lee Steele on the sidelines until the very end.

"Rawle got his goal and had a fantastic 30 minutes, then he started to look a bit tired and stopped making the runs," he said.

"Jefferson came here last year, showed a lot of power and pace.

"We thought that, with his power and pace, and with Julian Alsop up front, he'd get hold of the ball, but he didn't get hold of anything. Not only that, but he didn't start running either.

"In hindsight, I maybe should have brought Steele on, but last year Jefferson outstripped their defenders. This year he came on and didn't really carry any threat.

Louis suffered the humiliation of being hauled off just 28 minutes after coming on as a second-half sub.

When Steele stripped off ready to come on but was then asked to put his tracksuit top back on, some supporters chanted at the manager: "You don't know what you're doing."

But Atkins said: "I've got a pretty good record with substitutions this season. They've got us something like 20 points."

And he put the disappointing second-half display down to the players getting nervous.

"Supporters have got to understand that the players want to win and they get edgy. We've had a fantastic run but now we're probably not quite getting the breaks, and players get edgy.

"It was two points lost again. It's disappointing that we've come away from home four times against a side that's mid-table or below and we've had the lead and relinquished it late on.

"Their equaliser came because we switched off, didn't stay with runners and we didn't do our jobs properly."

But a bigger problem for United was at the other end, where neither Alsop nor Louis was getting hold of the ball.

"It kept coming off the strikers, I don't think we held the ball in all afternoon," Atkins said. "And if you can't hold the ball in, your midfield can't join in and then how can you play football?

"I never felt in any danger, but by the same token I didn't feel comfortable that we could go on and get a second goal.

"People can talk about managers and coaches, but it's the players who play the game. You can't play the game for them, they've got to use their initiative.

"Maybe we haven't got players with that initiative."

Rovers' former Oxford midfielder Dave Savage called it "unbelievable" that some United fans were even calling for Atkins's head.

He said: "How many is it they've lost this season . . . four?

"People might look at it on paper and think this was a game Oxford should win, but our home form, apart from Darlington, has been good. We're a bit better than our position in the league table suggests and we've got some good players here.

"We were quite pleased by our second-half performance. We were disappointed to give away a goal from a set piece, although it was a good finish from Rawle.

"I think we lacked a bit of belief, especially after going behind in the first half, but in the second half we were much better and we forced Oxford back."

Savage believes Alsop's presence makes Oxford a much more formidable side this season than they were last.

"He's a massive difference," Savage said. "I think he'll be the main talking point in opposition dressing rooms. You can talk about combating that, but if the right delivery comes in, he can be unmarkable, especially if midfielders like Deano and Hunty take a chance.

"I'd be very surprised if Oxford don't go up this year."