Jim Smith believes his Oxford United players have learned their lesson from Tuesday night's 2-2 draw at home to lowly Southport.

And it's come at just the right time ahead of another tricky match, and another potential banana skin, when the U's make the short trip west to Forest Green Rovers in tomorrow night's all-ticket game.

"I think we'll learn from this," Smith said, speaking after Southport almost snatched a shock victory.

"There are no easy games in this league.

"Whoever you are, whether you're Man Utd or Chelsea, you're not going to win every game throughout the season.

"We're still unbeaten after 13 games and it's a fair position to be in."

Smith, however, said he was not sure whether United's penalties were both fouls.

"The lads were saying the second one was a penalty, but the first one was a bit iffy," he said.

"I could not really tell though.

"We didn't play well in the first half and although I thought we did quite well in the second, we weren't as clinIcal as we should have been.

"We know in this league there are players who can make the most of opportunities at set plays. We've defended them quite well so far this season.

"The first corner was a good delivery and a difficult ball to defend.

"For the second one, I'll look at the video, because I wasn't sure about the goalkeeper.

"Billy (Turley) said he couldn't get it, but it was a soft goal and should have been defended better."

Striker Rob Duffy, who took his goals tally to eight in nine matches with his brace of penalties, said: "We were disappointed we didn't win the game.

"We didn't defend well at set plays and we almost lost it.

"But we have got great belief in the squad - I think you can see that from some of our results this season."