Oxford United boss Ian Atkins is hoping for - and expects - a backlash from his players at Macclesfield tonight after their hugely disappointing performance in Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Exeter.

For the first time since he took charge, he ordered the players back in for extra training, and what is euphamistically called 'a chat' on Sunday morning.

But he feels it was productive.

"I thought it needed to be done," Atkins said. "Because of the previous regime, I have tried to keep things positive, but I felt the time was right on this occasion.

"And I got some good feedback. We were all disappointed to lose a game we shouldn't have lost, and we know we've got to get out of this up-and-down mentality of doing it one week and not the next.

"But the biggest thing the players themselves were talking about was desire, and do we have enough desire to win games.

"I've looked at the video of the game and actually it wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. You have to look at the conditions as well.

"What frustrated me was that we didn't get crosses in. The times we did, we scored a goal and won a penalty, but we didn't get in nearly enough crosses."

Atkins added: "I'm looking for a backlash at Macclesfield. We've got 11 games to go and it may well be a bit up and down between now and the end of the season.

"But I want us to build a platform that will next season see us challenging."

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