By Jon Murray THE illusion that Denis Smith is more relaxed in his second spell as Oxford United manager was shattered when he blew his top after Saturday's 4-1 defeat by Wrexham at the Manor.

Smith was fuming at the way his team caved in during the closing minutes to crash to yet another hammering at home.

"To lose 4-1 is not acceptable, and the lack of discipline is not acceptable," he said. "A lot of heads dropped. It's hurt my pride and I hope it has hurt others' pride as well.

"I am absolutely seething. You spend three weeks trying to get a little bit of shape and passion, and you wonder whether some of them have got the passion and how much they want it.

"Some of them out there have disappeared when it went 3-1.

"When your backs are against the wall - that's when you need people out there fighting, and there's going to be a few backsides kicked." United's defensive problems - they had to change three of their back four and were also without influential midfielder Paul Tait - proved too much in the end, even though they dominated huge chunks of the game.

Smith said: "We were on top and gave a shocking first goal away. I know we've got problems with the defenders, and the way we lined up, but that shouldn't happen.

"You think you get things sorted out for half-time, but then we go two down."

A howler by keeper Paul Lundin, who completely missed his kick at a clearance, ended hopes of a recovery.

Yet what so disappointed United's manager was the way his team held up the white flag to let Wrexham waltz in for a fourth goal that turned the defeat into a thrashing.

"There's no describing the third goal," Smith lamented. "But what really upset me was the fourth. You go back to 3-2 or go down 3-1, you don't get beat 4-1. The fourth goal's come because people in midfield have not done their job. "When we got back into it and were on top, I was thinking that's OK, we'll at least get a point out of it. Then we let in the third goal which was beyond belief. But that can happen, anyone can miss their kick at times.

"Too many people's heads dropped and I ain't happy with it."

New boy Christian Edwards, on loan from Nottingham Forest, headed Oxford's goal but Wrexham's Danny Allsopp had the more impressive debut, scoring two goals and making a third.

"It was nice to get a goal, but because of the position Oxford are in a win would have been more important," said Edwards.

"We seemed to collapse near the end. It was makeshift at the back but as a defence we should have been tighter. Letting in four goals at home is very disappointing."

Smith said: "We had spells where we looked more than capable of getting the win, spells where we looked good, and then we had spells where we obviously had the problems in defence, which I knew about. "People will look at the back four, but it isn't just the back four, it's what the midfield do."

"The loss of Tait before the game was massive, we had to change a lot of things around, and perhaps that's what did us on the first goal."

In his first few weeks back at the Manor, Smith has appeared less intense than in his previous spell as United boss.

But, the Blackpool defeat apart - when Martin Aldridge's death overshadowed the game - results have gone well, the team looked more organised and the players seemed to have more idea.

Until Saturday, that is.

"I've got to be honest, I can walk away from this. I don't need the job, but I want the job," Smith stated. "I've got pride, I really wonder whether they (the players) want the job. It's their living, they've got to have a go at it.

"It's a game of football . . . if I was not getting paid or if I was playing on the local parks, I would not want to get beaten in that manner."

Story date: Monday 28 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.