Skipper Barry Quinn said he was disappointed that Oxford United didn't go up another gear, as he thought they would be able to, after falling behind.

And he thought the dismissal of his centre back partner, Luke Foster, in the second half was "very harsh".

The Dubliner gave his full backing to goalkeeper Billy Turley after his error gifted Lee Steele the tenth-minute goal that proved to be the difference between the teams at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

"These things happen in games," Quinn said.

"Billy's probably been one of our best players all season and for me he's the best in the league, without a doubt.

"But I thought we should still have had enough to go on and win.

"Luke's was a very harsh sending-off. It's very disappointing because it was a great chance for us to get four wins in a row, in front of our supporters, and to put on a show."

Quinn was as baffled by Foster's red card as was the player himself.

And he went over to try to get the official to change his mind.

"I think he forgot he'd given Luke a yellow card," he said.

"He said he made a mistake so he had to go. I told the ref 'that was a nothing challenge, we've seen ten times worse that haven't been booked'.

"I don't like to criticise (the ref) because we should still have gone on and won it, but he was very one-sided, and we get a lot of that at home.

"It's like having a 12th man to play against, but we've got to learn to deal with that.

"I was disappointed we couldn't go up that extra gear after the goal. But I don't feel we deserved to lose the way we did."