WHEN it comes to the qualities Oxford United need to dig themselves out of their rut, experience and a calm head feature prominently.

With almost 450 career appearances under his belt, John Mousinho certainly ticks the first box.

And in his 12 months with the U’s, the defender has often shown he can handle a delicate situation.

After testing defeats, the 32-year-old has invariably been the player selected by the club for the post-match interviews.

He fronted up after the 7-0 defeat against Wigan Athletic last December and when Accrington Stanley came from behind to win 3-2 and extend the U’s dreadful start on Tuesday, Mousinho again drew the short straw.

While it was his first league start of the campaign, he is part of a back four which have conceded 13 goals in the opening four games.

Individual errors were at fault to undermine Tuesday’s performance, but Mousinho believes that is a situation United can rectify.

“If we play like that enough times we’ll win games, as long as we cut out the small bits,” he said.

“What I’m trying to get across is the problems we have are fixable – on Tuesday’s performance.

“(It’s not like) other games where we’re scratching our heads and thinking ‘we’re not going to get any goals here and we’re conceding’.

“We were going to score, we looked dangerous but we’ve made a few mistakes. They’re inexcusable and we need to cut them out, but I think we’re able to do that.”

Tomorrow’s visit of Burton Albion, relegated from the Championship last season, would have been one of the first games Mousinho looked for when the fixtures came out in June.

He left the Pirelli Stadium 12 months ago to join United and tomorrow will be his first reunion.

And the centre back is hoping his knack of netting against former sides can resurface tomorrow.

He said: “I left them this time last year so there’s probably a bit extra on it for me.

“I have scored three goals against my old clubs and I’ve scored against Burton as well.”

That may be clutching at straws, but United are in need of a break, as the longer the barren run goes on, the bigger the next game becomes.

And Mousinho felt the Burton game would have been a big one even if three points had been banked in midweek.

He said: “Regardless of the result against Accrington, the pressure would have been on for Saturday.

“We would have felt better obviously going in with three points, but we’re looking at that game with Burton to win it in any circumstances.”

He added: “It’s a serious situation for us.

“We’re in a place where we need to dig in.

“The experienced lads need to draw on what they’ve done in the past.

“Inevitably they will have faced similar situations, maybe not at the start of the season, but certainly through the season.

“The young lads need to take heart from some of their performances and keep going.

“I can guarantee if they keep performing like that, they will get their rewards.”