NEW signing Dean Morgan felt Damian Batt’s red card was crucial as he ended up on the losing side in his first appearance for Oxford United.

Batt was sent off five minutes before half-time at Valley Parade and the U’s went on to lose 2-1 against Bradford City.

Morgan, who signed on loan from Chesterfield on Thursday, was impressed with the way his new teammates stuck to their task, but found it difficult after the dismissal.

He said: “I thought the sending-off killed us. We wanted to play football and that pitch didn’t help.

“The boys dug in, we got the late goal but just couldn’t get the second – I thought it was a good team performance with ten men.

“You’re trying to make something out of nothing because they’ve got that extra man.

“Sometimes that second ball drops to them and then you’ve got that extra yard to make up to get it back and try to push forward. “ Morgan showed flashes of the form which saw him help Chesterfield’s to the npower League Two title side last season.

The 28-year-old was a threat at times wide on the left, although he felt the red card prevented him from having more of an impact.

“I thought I did OK and if we had 11 men for the whole game we would have got a lot more out of me and everybody else,” he said.

“Hopefully we would have won it.”

Morgan had little time to adapt to his new surroundings and only met the squad for the first time on the way up to the game on Friday.

The experience was not a new one for the former Colchester trainee, who has gone out on loan several times during his career.

He said: “The skipper (Jake Wright) took me round and introduced me to everybody.

“It was chilled out and as the night went on everyone was a bit chattier with me.

“Obviously with how I feel I played (on Saturday) they probably took to me even more and hopefully they’re pleased I’m on board.”