Oxford United manager Karl Robinson believes that his side would have got a result at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday evening if they had fielded a recognised goalscorer.
The United boss played Curacaoan winger Gino van Kessel as a lone forward but the player struggled to hold up the ball against the home side’s physical centre-backs as Wigan Athletic won the match 1-0.
Speaking to The72 after the match, Robinson admitted that his side missed the presence of an out-and-out goalscorer.
“If we have better goalscorers, we win the game” said Robinson.
“Our game plan was perfect and we had three great chances to score but we didn’t take them.
“We actually looked like the team who were going to get the goal and I think with that we lost discipline.
“We are a young team, we are learning and I am pleased that we can come here as a team and carry out a game plan.
“We didn’t lose face here. We lost the reverse fixture 7-0 and never looked like we would lose by more than a goal tonight.”
Oxford United are four points above the Sky Bet League One relegation zone and while they are not yet safe, new boss Robinson hinted that he has a promotion challenge on his mind for next season.
The United manager added “I believe that Rochdale drew which is good from that perspective.
“We wish Wigan luck now and we hope that they achieve what they set out to achieve.
“From our point of view, we want all of the big teams out of the league for us next year, we want the Wigans and the Blackburns of this world to be out of the league.
“Whoever drops down we will take the hit with that.
“We’ve got a lot more hard work to grow as a group, a lot more recruitment work to be done but tonight was another step in the right direction from my point of view.”
Wigan Athletic really stepped up their search for the game’s winning goal with strikers Will Grigg and Devante Cole coming off the bench. The former scored the only goal of the match in the 87th minute and Robinson highlighted the quality of those players while acknowledging errors made by his side.
“We played too many sideways passes, silly passes, flicky passes and then they hit us on the break because we had our left winger on the right side, our right winger on the right side, it was a loss of discipline” said Robinson.
“We were growing in confidence but the problem with growing in confidence is that you open the back door up.
“They paid a lot of money for Devante (Cole) and Will Grigg. I’ve had Will Grigg and been promoted with Will Grigg so I know how good he is.
“When you bring on players like that you know it’s going to be difficult for us but to be fair on my players I thought they conducted themselves really well.”
Oxford United are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Doncaster Rovers in Sky Bet League One
