Oxford United's veteran goalkeeper, Billy Turley, says it's time for the team to get some proper consistency.

And he questioned the make-up of the squad this season, whereby at Lewes last weekend, one-third of the side was made up of players on loan.

Manager Darren Patterson's hands have been tied to an extent, because of the small budget he has had to work with.

Yet questions have been raised over whether loan players have the same commitment to a club, when they know they have somewhere to go back to at the end of their stay, as fully contracted players.

Turley, 35, faces the club where he won two championship medals when United take on Rushden & Diamonds at the Kassam Stadium today.

The Wolverhampton-born keeper joined Rushden for £120,000 in 1999 and went on to make 238 appearances for them. He has now made more than 130 for the U's, setting a clean sheets record in the Conference last season.

He admits he's devastated to see Oxford in their current position of 20th in the Blue Square Premier.

"I'm gutted with where we are in the table," he said.

"Every time Sky Sports News comes on, I have to turn my eyes away. But I know I'll be doing my damnedest to get us back up the league, and every player in the squad is the same.

"I feel for the Oxford fans, the position we're in is not acceptable, but it's only the players who can get us out of it.

"The manager does his work in training – we've looked really good in training – but there have been too many times when we have crossed that white line and players are not reaching their potential.

"We need to rectify it, but players need to do that for themselves – no-one else can."

United's 2-1 defeat by bottom club Lewes hurt Turley a lot, he says.

"I think we had a third of the team as loan signings, that says it all," he stated.

"I dont know if Rushden have used many loan signings at all this season, so that shows the contrast between the two teams, which is another thing I think we need to rectify.

"You need a squad of 16 then you add your loan players to that.

"I think the manager's looking to bring players in. But you look at our squad on paper and it's really good – we should be good enough.

"But the Lewes performance wasn't anywhere near acceptable, especially after the high of Tuesday. It was exactly the same players, exactly the same formation yet they were poles apart.

"We've been in every day this week, the manager was so furious with the performance at Lewes, he had us in at 9 o'clock on Sunday."

There will be two fewer loanees in United's team today. Centre back Karleigh Osborne has returned to Brentford, while four-goal striker James Constable is sidelined because of a knee injury.

After their last two performances, United are probably looking forward to playing at home again – and they haven't often felt that way in recent seasons.

"Too much is made of playing at home, or playing away," Turley said. "You're playing on a green pitch, with goals. Sometimes it's too many excuses.

"If everyone goes out and gives 100 per cent, really giving their best, Darren would accept that and the players and fans would accept that, but there have been too many times this year when we've gone from a high straight to a low.