Chris Wilder pulled no punches after his Oxford United team threw away a two-goal half-time lead to crash 3-2 at Macclesfield on Saturday.

“As soon as their first goal went in, we just crumbled – and that’s unacceptable,” he said.

It was the first time a United team have capitulated in that manner since Wilder became manager, and it leaves the U’s in 14th place in npower League Two and licking their wounds after back-to-back defeats.

“I thought the two centre backs got bullied and were run ragged,” he said.

“The back four were very poor defensively and in midfield we never won enough battles.

“The front three were living off scraps because we kept putting the ball down their centre half’s throat, and just invited them to attack us, and they did.

“And whereas in the first half we dealt with it and broke, in the second half we didn’t.”

The contrast between the two halves was so extreme as to be barely believable.

United had gone into the break two-up with James Constable bagging his eighth goal of the season, and Tom Craddock his fourth for the club, and Wilder’s men had missed four other gilt-edged chances.

And he was almost as annoyed with those that had squandered opportunities to put the match beyond Macclesfield’s reach as he was with his players for capitulating in the second 45 minutes.

“I wasn’t happy with the first half because I thought we should have been 5-0 up,” he added. “Our wastefulness in front of goal was ridiculous.

“The game should have been done and dusted by half-time with the chances that we made – and they were proper, good chances.

“In the second half, we didn’t deserve anything out of the game – we played like an academy side.”

Questions will inevitably be asked about whether United’s team is too young, and need a couple of experienced old heads to hold things together when things start to go wrong.

It’s something Wilder admits he is thinking about, but said: “Two goals up should be enough, however the ones we conceded were awful.

“For their first, we’ve not cleared it. Our goalkeeper’s been great, let us not get away from that, but it was a poor decision from him. He had to either catch it or push it to the side.

“And with the two others, they got in behind Leigh Franks far too easily, we’ve not tracked runners, and when we’ve had chances to clear it, we’ve not put our foot through it.

“We’re just handing goals and points to teams at the moment.

“Last week – individual mistakes, lost. This week – individual mistakes, lost.”

Oxford were not the only team to blow a good lead. Northampton threw away a 3-0 lead at home to the bottom club, Hereford, going down 4-3.

And it’s the Cobblers that United play next, at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.