OXFORD United skipper Adam Murray has urged supporters not to panic just because the U’s have lost top spot in the Blue Square Premier for the first time since August.

Chris Wilder’s men have led the division for 95 per cent of the campaign, but were knocked off the summit when they were able to play only one of their four matches in and around Christmas.

United drew 1-1 at Salisbury in their only fixture, while Stevenage completed a home-and-away double over Cambridge, and also drew 0-0 with AFC Wimbledon.

And the 4-1 win over Cambridge last weekend enabled Stevenage to leapfrog Oxford for the first time, although United have three games in hand.

Midfielder Murray admitted it had come as a slight shock to the system to be knocked off the top, but there wasn’t much anyone could do about it with the bad weather contributing greatly.

“Obviously it’s not nice, because you look at the top of the table and you expect to see Oxford there, but Stevenage did well over the Christmas period to take advantage of us not playing,” he said.

“It’s down to us to just win our games in hand and I don’t think there’s a need for anyone to panic.

“The players, and the fans, have just got to have faith in what a good group of players we’ve got here.”

He added: “Some people are worrying that we’re not top of the league. But we’re confident in our own ability and we’re confident that, if we stick to what we know we’re good at, and as we’ve shown in the first half of the season, we can beat anyone in this league.”