OXFORD United’s scorers on Saturday were both delighted to get off the mark this season, but admitted the result took any gloss off their goals.

Alfie Potter put United ahead in first-half stoppage time, and Peter Leven made it 2-0 seven minutes into the second half.

But a Burton fightback meant it was the visitors who went home the happier.

Potter, who had said before the game that he was desperate for a goal after missing several chances at Crewe the previous week, said the mood in the changing room was a sombre one.

“We feel we have let ourselves down again,” he said.

“We have again created enough chances to win the game – maybe a couple of games – but have not taken them.

“We have to start putting teams to bed. We have got to start scoring freely.

“We should be getting three or four goals if we play like that.

“But also we have to defend as a unit and make sure we don’t give anything away.

“It was really sloppy because that was a game that we should have won.”

Potter’s goal came after some neat link-up play, and he was in the right place to fire home after Michael Duberry’s deft touch from Leven’s pass found the winger in space.

“It all happened very quickly,” Potter said.

“I had a lot of room and thought I might have been offside at first, but thankfully I managed to put it in.”

He added: “But we need to stop saying the same things after each match.

“We need to be ruthless and make sure we win games like that.”

Leven, whose goal was his first for the club since joining from MK Dons, said that the players and management got a lot off their chest after the game.

“We’ve had a long chat in there (the dressing room),” he said.

“The first half the way we passed it about was superb.

“If you have more of the ball than the opposition then you will win more matches than you’ll lose, so we need to take our first-half performance and kick on from there.”