OXFORD United star Joey Beauchamp urged the doom merchants not to get carried away after the team slumped to a fifth successive defeat.

Luton's 1-0 win at the Manor on Saturday plunged the U's into the bottom four in Division 2 with nearly one third of the season gone.

United have gone more than seven hours without a goal and some fans are starting to worry that little Morecambe will capitalise on the team's patent lack of self-belief by dumping them out of the FA Cup in this Saturday's first-round tie at the Manor.

But Beauchamp, who was unlucky against Luton with a shot which came back off the woodwork, said: "I'm sure we'll get past Morecambe. There's not been much wrong with the way we've been playing the last few games, it's just scoring and getting a break.

"A lot of times the ball's going loose in the box but it's not falling right. That summed it up with my shot today - it hits the post, hits their player and goes out for a corner instead of hitting their player and going in. "It seems something's against us. Every little mistake from us gets punished and every little chance that other teams get they seem to be putting away.

"After the game the boys were saying we've just got to keep going. There's no reason why we couldn't have won this game. We've just got to turn it around.

"There's still no reason why we can't climb up the table and do well this season, there's still a long way to go."

Beauchamp added: "We should be able to get a few goals next week against Morecambe and then we've got Colchester at home after that, so those are two good games for us. A couple of good scoring wins will maybe give us that bit of belief.

"If we can get back to scoring next week we can have a bit of shooting practice and hopefully put a few in."

The midfielder praised the fans for not barracking the team. "The crowd were good today," he said. "They could have got on our backs but they were right behind us, right the way through the game. That was good to see because the players are giving their all, it's just that when things aren't going for you, they don't go. I just hope it turns around quickly.

"When you keep losing, the team's self-belief naturally drops, but my confidence is still high and I'm taking a lot of players on and getting in shots."

Boss Malcolm Shotton refused to attend the post-match Press conference, issuing a message that he had no comment to make.

It's no secret that some of the players dislike his methods, but Beauchamp said he had the backing of many.

"The manager, Mark and everyone's in it together. The gaffer's been fine, encouraging and giving us belief and it's the same every game.

"It's no good the fans getting on his back. I've never been a believer that the manager should be the one responsible for results all the time, it's the players' fault at the end of the day.

"I suppose maybe we don't know our best formation, and that's a problem.

"We're just hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel . . . it's just a long tunnel and we can't find the way out at the moment."

NICKY Banger has joined Scottish Premier League club Dundee after a bizarre mix-up at the Manor on Saturday.

The midfielder was named as one of United's substitutes on the list handed in to referee George Cain, but club secretary Mick Brown, who had just received international clearance for Banger's move to Scotland to go through, spotted his name in the nick of time.

An urgent tannoy announcement for Simon Weatherstone to report to the home dressing-room paid off, and, with Luton manager Lennie Lawrence's agreement, the ref allowed Oxford to replace Banger and put Weatherstone on the bench instead.

Story date: Monday 25 October

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