MICHAEL Appleton could not hide his frustration at the way Oxford United allowed Sheffield United back into the game after making a dream start at Bramall Lane.

The visitors gained control of the contest early on and took the lead through a smart finish from Kane Hemmings.

With the Blades bottom of the Sky Bet League One table, there was a chance for the U’s to take advantage of their hosts’ insecurity.

But the bright opening marked the high-point for Appleton’s side, who lost the initiative and ended up losing 2-1 to second-half goals from Billy Sharp and James Wilson.

The United head coach knew it was a chance squandered.

“We definitely let them off the hook,” he said.

“For the first 20 minutes we had many opportunities on the counter-attack to hurt them and make better decisions.”

He added: “You’ve got to have that courage to play, especially when you’re 1-0 ahead.

“We’ve got to be more confident, almost arrogant when we go ahead.

“I expect to have more about us in terms of controlling the ball better.

“We went 1-0 up against a side that are having a difficult start to the season and we had the opportunity to get the second goal in terms of the areas we got into.

“We just weren’t good enough to execute it.”

Appleton also bemoaned a foul in the build-up to the equaliser on Aaron Martin, which went unpunished.

The centre back had been introduced at half-time due to a thigh injury sustained by Joe Skarz.

It added to United’s defensive headache, with Christian Ribeiro and Curtis Nelson already sidelined.

With the transfer window closing on Wednesday evening, Appleton acknowledged Skarz’s issue could mean they are also in the market for an extra defensive option.

He said: “With the amount of defenders we’ve had injured we certainly have to think about it.

“It’s three defenders already who will be out for at least a couple of weeks.

“We won’t know how bad it is for 48 hours.

“Joe just said when he was playing the ball into the strikers he felt a twinge in his thigh.

“It’s a bit worse with it being his left leg and we didn’t want to risk him.

“We’re having a bit of trouble at the minute with injuries to defenders. It’s something we need to be aware of before Wednesday."