JIM Smith conceded his Oxford United team lacked a cutting edge as they were held goalless by Woking on a frustrating afternoon for him, and U's fans, at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

It was the third time running the Surrey side have kept a clean sheet against Oxford, and at the other end, they didn't have a lot of luck, hitting the bar three times.

And in an action-packed first half, Phil Trainer also hit the woodwork for United, with a shot against the post.

But Smith was disappointed that the team could not build on their 1-0 win at Farsley.

"It was a very frustrating afternoon," he said. "We're so inconsistent.

"Woking came out flying and as well as the ones against the bar, Billy Turley pulled off two great saves.

"Then the game settled down and we had some half-chances. We played some very good football but there were wrong decisions and we had no cutting edge.

"There weren't a lot of positives for us, but we've got very young strikers. Also, you don't want to get beaten and we at least got a point, though it was a disappointing result and disappointing performance.

"Most supporters will be disappointed because we haven't won, but there was some good football and good endeavour.

"But I also feel that, from what I expect, it's not good enough."

The youthfulness of United's strikers showed. Seventeen-year-old loanee Jordan Rhodes battled manfully but the service to him and support from midfield wasn't great, while striking partner Yemi Odubade went close with a lob over the outrushing keeper from more than 40 yards that he hit just a fraction too hard.

The tiring Rhodes was replaced by Alex Fisher, making his home debut, but he similarly had few opportunities to shine.

"I think Yemi should have gone round the keeper rather than put it over him," said the U's boss. "When the game did settle down, we had more of the ball without creating anything that made their keeper work.

"We've got a very young front two, and two 17-year-olds alongside Yemi. It was a really young front two against a very experienced Woking defence so you're asking a lot.

"It's just disappointing because, coming off the back of a win, you want to put two, three or four wins together.

"We are struggling with injuries, though, there's no doubt about it. We get one back, then one goes out.

"Jordan worked tremendously hard again - maybe too hard! - and has done very well since he's been with us. We have a dramatic injury list. Had we seen Duffy and Twiggy playing today, I think we'd have seen a different story."

Smith confirmed afterwards that it was a tactical decision, rather than injury, that caused him to take Chris Willmott off at half-time.

"He was all over the place, but in fairness to Chris, he did come in to see me and apologised for his performance. He looked so jittery, I don't know why with his experience, although their big guy up front, Marvin Morgan, was a real handful.

"A clean sheet was important but we've got to be a little more clever or ruthless."