Oxford coach Matt Maudsley felt his side gave a good account of themselves in their 41-26 defeat by Cleve.
"It could've gone either way," he said. "They were just more incisive than we were.
"There were two situations in the first half where we should have scored, but we made errors.
"That would have put us in a good position going into the second half.
"I felt for the majority of the game we were two evenly matched teams.
"They had some great finishers in their wingers and full back, while we just didn't put our best finisher, Andy Henley, in enough spaces.
"They had a lot more experience than us. As a result their No 9 (former Bath and Bristol player Hentie Martens) was able to control the tempo.
"We certainly didn't lose for lack of trying.
"It was one or two missed opportunities."
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