Oxford United boss Darren Patterson says he's well aware that he is precariously hanging on to his job at the moment.

And tomorrow's televised home game against Cambridge could be critical to his future.

Saturday's 2-1 defeat to table-topping Crawley leaves the U's in 20th place in the Blue Square Premier, now above the relegation places only on goal difference.

Patterson admitted his job was on the line because of poor results but he believes he can still turn it around.

Yet he stressed it wasn't for him to decide whether the Setanta-screened Cambridge clash would be considered a "must-win game".

"That I can't affect," he said. "I just focus on what I've got to do at the end of the day.

"I'm no idiot, at the end of the day, I know the points to games ratio isn't good enough so that just points to certain things.

"We just get on with it, I'm fully focussed on winning football matches, that's all."

Losing to the league leaders was no surprise, but the manner in which Crawley went on to dominate the second part of the first half was alarming.

Boos echoed around the ground at the final whistle as fans came to terms with a tally of just nine points from ten matches.

"We're taking a lot of stick at the moment, and me personally, and quite rightly," Patterson said. "People pay good money to see us win football matches and we're not doing it.

"The players we've brough in should be good enough to get more points, irrespective of what has gone against us. I make no excuses for it.

"I stand up to be counted, it's down to me and if people are going to point the finger and criticise people, I'd rather they do it to me than the players. The players are going to need to come out here on Tuesday night and be big and strong."

Patterson keeps trying to protect his players but the fact remains that some - like key summer signings Lewis Haldane and Jamie Guy - are letting him down by not producing the goods. Neither has found the net yet, despite shining in pre-season.

United had the boost on Saturday of taking the lead, through a penalty from Yemi Odubade, but after a stunning equaliser, the Oxford players' heads dropped when Crawley grabbed a second soon afterwards, Jamie Cook capitalising on poor marking at a corner.

In the second half their efforts to get back on level terms petered out and they didn't look like scoring.

Patterson had gambled by changing to a new system, 4-3-3, partly to accommodate the returning Phil Trainer. But Crawley, who have been using that formation all season, were much better in finding space and passing.

United's manager said: "We made a very good start after 20 minutes and everything was working well.

"It was just a simple lapse at the back that let them in, though the lad produced a fantastic finish - it was a quality goal.

"But the second goal was just a killer. It was poor marking from us. The second half we more or less dominated play - I don't think they had a shot - we got in some very good areas, but the final ball and the end product was not good enough. We didn't test their keeper anywhere near enough."

Patterson felt the new system didn't contribute to their problems.

"We had four practice matches with it last week so it's not as though we suddenly said 'oh, we'll try it today'. We'd been working on it hard and it was working fine.

"It worked early on, we got down the sides of them and we got the penalty and our goal from it. And we had the one where we worked our way in and Adam Murray passed it across early on. That was a great chance."

Crawley Town boss Steve Evans claimed there was "a massive gulf" between the sides in thelast 30 minutes of the first half.

But Patterson countered: "I wouldn't say that. I could see a big difference in certain things, which I didn't particularly like watching today. Obviously, their tails are up at the minute, and certain things are going against us.

"We got Billy Turley back and all of a sudden he's out of it again. Too many heads go down and I'm a bit worried about becoming a soft option here.

"I'm just very, very disappointed because we started so brightly," said Patterson, who explained his reasons for having strikers Guy and James Constable on the bench.

"They hadn't played and hadn't trained all week. Phil Trainer did train and play, so we put him in. I thought he gave us 90 minutes, unbelievably really, he was fantastic. Putting Billy in was a no-brainer because we need him for his presence.

"I thought Karleigh Osborne did well defensively, and young boy James Clarke did well. At the endd of the day, it was certain other areas that let us down today.

"We could be a bit nastier when we cross that line and be a bit more hard to beat, and Crawley showed a bit more of that than us. Other that that there wasn't a great deal of difference between the sides."

Meanwhile, transfer-listed Matt Day's move to Blue Square South side Bognor has hit a stumbling block because the U's don't want him Cup-tied.