KARL Robinson says criticism of himself is fair after watching his Oxford United side suffer their third defeat on the bounce.

United fell 2-0 down within an hour at home to Sky Bet League One high-flyers Barnsley, with a header from captain Elliott Moore setting up a tense final 20 minutes at the Kassam Stadium.

The loss though follows defeats at Wycombe Wanderers and Burton Albion, as the U’s languish in 14th in the third tier.

Robinson’s side are 11 points shy of Barnsley, who occupy the final play-off spot.

On the run of defeats, Robinson said: “It doesn’t change what we’re trying to do or where we are.

“There’s been managers who have gone for a lot longer defeats than what I’m going through now and a lot lower league positions.

“The players are really fighting and trying to work hard, and trying everything in their power to stay in games and compete in games.

“I don’t think you would’ve seen a massive gulf between a team really pushing for the play-offs and a team in a lost position, I don’t think that was evident on the eye.

“The criticism at the end is rightly so, we’re not winning games and the manager has to be the one to get the criticism.

“I’ll 100 per cent stand and protect my players through all of that.”

Discussing the overall performance against the Tykes, Robinson was again left frustrated by his side’s quality in the final third.

United’s head coach has been critical of the forward area throughout the season, with his creative players and strikers lacking the cutting edge to both create and put away chances.

Robinson said after the defeat against Barnsley: “I thought the first half was very even, they probably had their best chance of the game in the first 10 minutes.

“We had one or two opportunities to get in behind as well, but we never.

“I thought it was two good teams in the first half, it was very even.

“I don’t think it was a flattering game, I don’t think it was pretty on the eye, especially with the way they’re very aggressive in how they hold their line.

“I thought we could’ve been a bit cuter in the stuff we worked on, playing forwards.

“In the second half, we came out with real intent but not much quality.

“I felt that the longer the game went on, we found little areas and they then hit us at a time when we felt we were gaining a bit of control – not complete control, but a little bit of control.

“Then at 2-0, you think it could be a bad night but I think the players showed tremendous appetite and desire to try and fight their way back in it.

“If we’re disappointed with anything, I don’t think we created a good enough opportunity after our goal.

“I thought our final ball with our delivery and crossing could’ve been better the longer the game played out.”