OXFORD United's squad is not coping well with the loss of some key players, boss Karl Robinson has admitted.

A sixth defeat in eight games at the start of the Sky Bet League One season was confirmed as they went down 2-0 at Fleetwood Town.

The visitors could hardly have made a worse start, falling behind to Callum Camps' excellent strike in the first minute.

James Henry had a penalty saved and United went backwards after half-time, conceding a second goal to Paddy Madden.

The visitors only had six players in reserve after Mark Sykes failed a fitness test before the game, due to a hip problem.

Marcus McGuane missed the game after his partner gave birth last night, while Sam Winnall and Cameron Brannagan are both on the sidelines.

Robinson, United's head coach, said: "Let’s be brutally honest – they’ve probably improved in the summer.

"I don’t think they’ve lost anybody and then you have a team in the next stage of transition. We’ve lost a few players.

"We can’t cope without having Brannagan, McGuane, Sykes, Winnall, we don’t have that type of squad."

Madden bagged the crucial second goal after coming off the bench, while Robinson was frustrated by the lack of impact his substitutes had for the second successive game.

Dan Agyei and Joel Cooper were introduced just before the second goal, with Rob Hall coming on for the final few minutes.

The U's boss said: "You knew (Paul) Coutts was on the pitch, (Mark) Duffy ran round and made it horrible for us.

"Paddy Madden came on and take the goal away, I thought his work ethic was phenomenal.

"There’s the big problem, because at 1-0 you’re looking to make the same changes that can affect the game and it’s just not to be.

"I have to take responsibility for the result because it’s what managers do."

He added: "On Tuesday (in the 2-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic), the last 15 minutes I thought we got worse as the game petered out and again today we got worse when we made changes.

"That’s the harsh reality of where we are with the amount of injuries we have right now.

"My squad’s good enough if you have everyone fit.

"They can bring Madden on, it would have been great to bring Winnall on."