KARL Robinson felt Oxford United let their standards drop in defeat at Accrington Stanley.

The U’s lost 2-0 on a disappointing evening in Lancashire, with John O’Sullivan opening the scoring after 28 minutes and Ethan Hamilton adding a late second.

United struggled to find their rhythm as an organised Accrington managed the game in the pouring rain.

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And Robinson knows his side did not hit the heights of previous weeks as they suffered a first loss in five Sky Bet League One games.

The U’s head coach said: “I’m not going to hang my players out to dry.

“I’m not going to finger-point, but there were some performances that were way under-par, ambling around at times.

“It will not be accepted and I will deal with this internally.

“As a team, they certainly give everything all the time.”

United started well and Matty Taylor saw a shot cleared off the line midway through the half, only for O’Sullivan to fire Accrington ahead after 28 minutes.

The hosts were on top after the goal, although the U’s rallied after making an attacking trio of substitutions – with striker Sam Baldock coming on for the injured Ciaron Brown.

Sam Winnall then had an effort cleared off the line, before Taylor was unable to head home his strike partner’s deflected effort three minutes from time.

Hamilton made United pay in the closing stages and Robinson rued his lack of defensive options.

Luke McNally missed out for personal reasons, while Sam Long was unavailable through injury before Brown went off.

“It doesn’t look good. His ankle’s really swollen,” Robinson said of the January signing.

“I don’t know what people would expect of us from then on.

“No-one could cope with losing that many players out of your back line.”