ALFIE Potter admitted Oxford United had let themselves down again as their play-off hopes were effectively snuffed out by a last-gasp Morecambe equaliser.

The winger put the U’s in front with a fantastic piece of improvisation after an hour.

But as with their previous two games, which both ended in defeats, United were severely punished for not killing off the opposition.

It allowed Morecambe to pinch a goal with just seconds remaining, when Jack Redshaw headed in at a corner.

The draw realistically ended United’s challenge for a place in the top seven – they are seven points adrift, with several rivals having up to two games in hand on them in the final month of the season.

Any joy Potter had from scoring the goal vanished with the late leveller and the winger felt it was clear who was at fault.

He said: “I would have been delighted if it had been the winner, but it means nothing really, we needed to win and we let ourselves down at the end.

“We’re to blame, the manager picks his team and sets us up – he’s got it right because we’ve dominated teams.

“We’ve created chances and not taken them and when it’s mattered we’ve not defended right as a team.”

Chris Wilder was again left pointing at the chances his side had squandered.

But the U’s boss was also critical of the lack of game management they had shown, when the priority in the closing minutes should have been on running down the clock to protect the lead.

He said: “There were five mistakes in the last 30 seconds.

“Riggy (Sean Rigg) possibly shouldn’t have had an extra touch, my centre forward should never have got caught offside and even before that Alfie and Riggy have had chances to keep it in the corner.

“I want them to go and score a second goal but I want them to go and win the game.

“Then, at the corner, somebody has made a poor decision to sink back onto the line when all they needed to do was go and head it clear.”

Wilder said it was the toughest result to take of the entire season and sympathised with the emotion supporters showed at the final whistle.

“We’ve done enough to win again,” he said.

“I understand people walking out of the ground frustrated and angry, but I feel exactly the same.

“We’re killing ourselves, as we have done over the last two or three games.”