KARL Robinson felt Oxford United did not learn from their mistakes as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Northampton Town.

The U’s could not bounce back from Saturday’s home loss to Blackpool against the Sky Bet League One strugglers, who claimed three points to climb out of the relegation zone.

The result also hurts United’s promotion chances, keeping them three points shy of the play-offs with ten matches of the season remaining.

Read the match report here

Robinson was frustrated with the manner of Sam Hoskins’ strike ten minutes into the second half, which proved to be the winner.

The U’s allowed Northampton to press their back line in the build-up to the goal – a familiar failing from the Blackpool defeat

“At half-time we spoke about that,” United’s head coach said.

“If you’re going into the lions’ den don’t put meat in your pocket, because you won’t be walking back out.

“I felt in the first five minutes we fed their energy.”

He added: “We spoke about getting to 60 minutes at 0-0 and we knew they were going to get in our faces and press us.

“We knew the game would’ve opened up and we’d have been able to play late on.”

A U’s side showing five changes had started better than the weekend, with Rob Atkinson seeing his fifth-minute volley cleared off the line – potentially with the help of a hand.

But Northampton began to look dangerous as United’s threat waned and Mark Marshall hit the post for the hosts on the half-hour mark.

Robinson’s side did not seriously threaten after Hoskins’ goal, despite knowing a win would have put them seventh in the table.

Read also: Karl Robinson frustrated by 'naivety' against Blackpool

The head coach had a long conversation with his players in the dressing room at full-time and urged them to use the defeat as motivation.

Robinson name-checked the 2-1 home derby defeat to Swindon Town in November, which was followed by a 13-game unbeaten run.

He said: “This team is hurt, hungry and determined.

“It’s about having the experience to sniff out these moments to determine what you do moving forward.

“The Swindon game is a prime example.

“It’s not the same severity, because of who that was, but this is up there.

“This was a real chance to put ourselves near the top six.

“It’s still all to play for and everybody’s going to beat everybody.”