CHRIS Maguire admitted it is up to Oxford United to show they have the bottle for the promotion race in the wake of a 2-1 home defeat to rivals Accrington Stanley.

A dreadful second half display saw the U’s throw away a lead, before conceding a late winner to the ten-man visitors.

Coming four days after a 1-0 loss to leaders Northampton Town at the Kassam Stadium, it was the first time Michael Appleton’s men have lost back-to-back league games in 11 months.

The result saw Stanley slash United’s advantage over the Sky Bet League Two play-off pack to three points – with the Lancashire club having two games in hand.

Maguire acknowledged the chasers would now view the U’s as vulnerable, but is adamant they will come up with the right response, starting at Exeter City tomorrow night.

He said: “Everybody involved with the club is disappointed, it’s a massive upset for us, but we know we have got way more than that.

“People will think we were in a comfortable position, but Accrington came and have two games in hand so it was a six-pointer.

“People will look now and think ‘their bottle’s gone’ because we haven’t won the last couple of games and thrown away a good position in the league.

“We know in the dressing room we’ve still got a lot more to give and I’m sure come the end of the season we’ll prove that.”

He added: “People might think we’ve let it slip away, but we’re hurting in the dressing room.

“It’s a great opportunity to go out on Tuesday and put it right.”

The contest was heavily affected by a strong wind which blew down the pitch, disrupting both sides.

But Maguire pointed to the visitors’ performance as he made no attempt to use the conditions as an excuse.

He said: “In the first half I thought we were comfortable, in the second half you can look and say they dealt with it better than us.”

The Scot was instrumental in United’s goal, when his inswinging cross found the corner of the net.

Maguire thought it had gone straight in for his first league goal at United, but Kemar Roofe looks likely to be credited with it after claiming a touch.

He said: “We’ll let someone higher up come out with the outcome, but at the end of the day looking back now it doesn’t matter because we’ve lost the game.”

Accrington boss John Coleman was understandably delighted.

“I thought we were value for being level at half-time and I spoke at the break and said ‘go out and believe you are good enough’ and they showed me they were good enough,” he said.

“I have told them to act like promotion candidates and today they did."