KARL Robinson says Oxford United must be more streetwise to help penalty decisions start falling in their favour.

The U’s head coach feels his side have been wrongly denied several spot-kicks recently, including in tight games against Ipswich Town and Portsmouth.

United have been awarded three penalties in Sky Bet League One this season – much less than Lincoln City, who top the charts with 11, but still more than nine teams.

Nevertheless, Robinson believes both players and staff can help marginal decisions go the U’s way.

He said: “I’m asking the bench to be more vocal.

“Fans will probably laugh at this, but I’m not really getting involved anymore and I’m getting the reverse output.

“I’m seeing other benches ask for everything and they seem to be getting a lot of decisions in their favour.

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“I’m not going to ask my players to cheat, but I’m asking them to play the game.

“Why try to stay on your feet if you know you’re not going to get anything, when everybody else goes down and gets something.”

James Henry missed the U’s first spot-kick of the league season at Fleetwood Town, but Alex Gorrin and Mide Shodipo scored from 12 yards at Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle respectively.

The latter came on December 29 and Robinson believes United have been hard done by in the 11 games since.

Strong penalty shouts on Shodipo at Doncaster Rovers, Rob Atkinson at Ipswich and Sam Winnall against Portsmouth were waved away, with the U’s gaining one point from those three games.

After a 1-1 draw at MK Dons and home stalemate with League One leaders Peterborough United in the last seven days, Robinson’s side are now without a win in five matches in all competitions.

It has seen United drop to tenth in the table, six points shy of the play-offs, and the manager feels his team are due a bit of luck.

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He said: “Let’s make sure we keep asking the question of referees, so I’m going to focus on making sure my players get the rub of the green.

“If they get that bit of lady luck they probably deserve, we’ll be very competitive.

“When we’re not getting anything, it beggars belief.

“They’re full of energy, they’re full of positivity, they feel aggrieved that we haven’t got more than we have out of the last few games.

“They’re very tight affairs and we’ve got to make sure those one-goal swings drop in our favour for the rest of the season.”