DERBY County head coach Paul Warne described his side’s first half display at Oxford United as ‘horrific’.

The U’s led 1-0 at the break thanks to Dane Scarlett’s opener after 12 minutes, but the Rams battled back in the second half and levelled the game 10 minutes after the restart via a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing strike.

United were in broad control for the majority of the first half, but the second period lacked credible control from either side, although it was the Rams who arguably looked more of a threat.

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Warne said: “We were horrific in the first half, there was no intensity in our play and if you don’t have any fire, you get punished.

“Then quelle surprise, we were significantly better in the second half. But we can’t allow 45 minutes to go by as we did.

“I swapped players at half-time, but I don’t think we were losing because of tactics or personnel, it was because we weren’t doing the basics right.

“There was a lack of effort, running and tackling in the first half. So, I apologise to any of the travelling fans who left at half-time after that.

“In the second half we were much better, but the ball fell to people who were smashing it over the bar or whatever.

“It’s just disappointing because I just want us to be better. Ironically, I think we’ve performed better in the away games where we haven’t got points.

“We leave here frustrated not to have won the game more than anything. But if you don’t run or tackle or put in the effort you need to, you don’t give yourself the best chance to do that.”