Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett has said his side weren’t “energetic enough” in their 2-1 loss at Watford on Saturday.
The Us took the initiative within three minutes thanks to Max Alleyne’s own goal but the Hornets claimed the lead through a quickfire Jeremy Ngakia double before the break and held onto the score to register Oxford’s fifth loss in the Championship.
“The start was excellent, and to get into that position,” said former Derby defender Rowett to BBC Radio Oxford.
“I don’t think our performance overall today was energetic enough or good enough. Of course, we keep going, [it’s] a tight game again, we still have opportunities, but if I’m being honest, I’m bored of saying we’ve conceded poor goals once more.
“I think that’s a frustration since the start of the season. We need to cut out the mistakes. We did [that] on Wednesday and got a point away from home.
“If you look at both goals, the first was a ball in the box we’ve got to deal with—simple as that, that’s our job. The second one, Jamie (Cumming) just gets a little nudge on him, but I think he’ll be disappointed he doesn’t deal with it himself as well, so two moments that were really disappointing.”