JIM Smith accused his Oxford United players of forgetting their team ethic as they went for individual glory in Saturday's action-packed 2-2 draw at Stevenage.

But the U's boss still felt it was a point gained rather than two points dropped as his Conference leaders came from two goals down at half-time against a team that finished with nine men after two red cards.

"With their nine men against our 11, you'd anticipate that once it got to 2-2, we'd go on to win," said Smith.

"But we stopped doing the things that had got us the two goals. People wanted to do it themselves rather than as a team.

"It was very disappointing that we couldn't go on to win it. But I thought Stevenage were the best team we've played when they had their full complement of players."

United went two goals down following basic defensive mistakes, but were rescued by second-half goals from top scorer Rob Duffy and Chris Hargreaves.

Smith felt happy with a draw in the end - a result that kept United top because Dagenham & Redbridge were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw at home by bottom club Southport - but admitted his team hadn't been good.

"They were off today," he said. "The defence was very poor and we got too individual when it got to 2-2. Too many were trying to be stars rather than play for the team.

"It's the poorest we've been defensively. None of the back three came out with with any credit."

Smith admitted the recent away run is a cause for concern, but said no team can expect to perform brilliantly every week.

"There's going to be stages through the season when you're going to dip a bit," he said.

"I don't suppose Stevenage have played as well as that all season, and in our last away game, the Gravesend manager said they that was the best that they had played.

"When you're not playing as well as you'd like to - because you're not going to do that for every game of the season - you've got to scrap.

"That's why it's definitely a point gained rather than two points lost."