NEW manager Denis Smith believes Oxford United need to show promotion form to get out of trouble at the bottom of Division 2 after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by relegation rivals Blackpool.

And with time running out, he looks likely to delve into the transfer market quickly to arrest United's main problem - their inability to put the ball in the net.

Their goalless run now stretches to more than eight hours - despite creating a load of chances and managing ten shots on target, one of their best tallies for weeks.

It wasn't the return to the Manor that Smith wanted on an afternoon of great poignancy, with so many of the players and crowd thinking of the Blackpool and former Oxford United striker Martin Aldridge, who was killed in a car crash at the age of 25 last weekend.

Blackpool leapfrogged over United in the bottom four and Smith admitted: "It was extremely disappointing. They did to us what we were hoping to do to them. "You could see what they've worked on, how they do it and they got the cross in and got the finish. We got plenty of crosses in, especially in the second half, but have not been able to apply the finish. We started with a system which I'd been working on for a couple of days but it was obviously not working, so after 20 minutes we changed.

"We got back into it and had a lot of the play. I don't know how many shots we got in on goal in the end, but it was a lot. But you've got to stick the ball into the net."

It was the U's fifth successive defeat without finding the net and leaves them still on 25 points.

"I've got to make sure we get the right people in to turn it around because from 17 games, we've got to get the amount of points we've got in 29 games - and that's a tall order. That's promotion sort of form.

"I can't fault any of our lads for effort. What they've got to do is sometimes click their brain into gear. It's no use chasing around if you don't know where you're going. "People were trying to impress but they've got to use their brains more as well."

Despite the setback, Smith remained confident he can avoid relegation.

"I've got to believe we can stay up. Results have gone reasonably well for us, keeping it tight down there. There's about six or seven teams who can go down . . . we've got to make sure we're not in that bottom four.

"Wins are the thing - not the way you play. A scrappy game and a 1-0 win would have done nicely for us."

It was a clear case of Murphy's Law for Steve McMahon's Seasiders as their leading scorer John Murphy buried an 18th minute header while U's leading marksman Matt Murphy saw his close-range free header saved in the second half.

"The main chance fell to Murph with a free header inside the six-yard box," Smith agreed. "Normally when you give a chance like that to Murph you're picking the ball out of the net."

United's new boss felt he learnt much more about the strength of his squad from the game. "I know more about the players now. I thought Simon Weatherstone did quite well when he came on, he looked very lively. Mark Watson was good at the back but he leaves us on Monday. Peter Fear kept his shape and sat in there.

"I thought Joey (Beauchamp) again was the only one who was going to create for us. He did, but we didn't put the finishing touches to it.

"Obviously I'll look at what we've got. I know a lot more now than I did on Thursday when I came in. I'd watched them the previous week but when you work with them you learn a lot quicker what people are about."

Smith denied speculation that he is set to return to his former club West Brom to sign players such as Graham Potter or Mark Angel on loan.

And he laughed off rumours sweeping the Manor Ground on Saturday that he would be working on a similar arrangement to that of the former technical director Ray Harford, without pay or just for expenses. "As far as I know I'm supposed to be paid. I haven't received anything yet but yes, I will be paid."

He added: "I'm delighted to be back involved. As long as I can draw breath I want to be involved in football as something."

"I had a long chat with Steve McMahon beforehand. We've been giving our opinions with media work but this is the sharp end, this is far more interesting."

Story date: Monday 07 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.