RICKY Holmes says Oxford United should feel they are now in a relegation battle.

Just over a quarter of the season will have elapsed after tomorrow’s visit to Southend United – where even a victory would keep Karl Robinson’s side in Sky Bet League One’s drop zone.

Holmes suffered a relegation earlier in his career and admitted the midweek defeat to Luton Town, where the winner came in the 98th minute, felt significant.

He said: “I spoke to some senior staff the other day and said it doesn’t feel like a relegation fight, but it should now.

“I’ve been in a relegated team with Barnet and it felt like there was no way out.

“I don’t get that feeling (here), but maybe on Tuesday it crept in for me – I kind of thought ‘right, we are in trouble’.

“We’ve got the ability to get out of it, but it isn’t pulling us through at the minute, we’ve got to go back to basics and find a result from somewhere.

“The table doesn’t lie after 11 games.”

The straight-talking loanee became United’s top-scorer after netting his fourth goal of the campaign in midweek, but it ultimately counted for nothing.

And Holmes, who turned down other options in the summer so he could be reunited with Karl Robinson, thinks criticism of the head coach and his staff is wide of the mark.

He said: “They can’t do anything about us going to win a header or a tackle, that is down to us as men.

“We’ve got to start showing that on the pitch.

“The gaffer can tell us to do something, but if we don’t go and do it then we’ve failed.

“It’s time now for everyone to look at themselves and go and do exactly what we’re paid to do.

“I know the manager always gets the flak because it’s easier to get rid of him rather than the 23 of us.

“At the minute you’d probably get rid of all 23 of us. It’s time for us to earn our money.”

Holmes has a deep connection to Southend United, having grown up round the corner, selling programmes as a youngster and playing in their youth set-up.

He said: “I always have a point to prove because they released me as a kid – and rightly so, I probably wasn’t good enough at the time.

“They’re a good team and I think they’ll be in the top six if I’m honest.

“I thought we would be, that’s why I came here, but at the moment we’re in survival mode and we’ll do what we can to get out of it.”