KARL Robinson insisted Oxford United’s 2-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers gave him more reasons for optimism than Tuesday’s win over Crewe Alexandra.

The U’s played well enough to earn at least a point against Ian Evatt’s side, but lacked the clinical edge to turn promising positions into goals.

It came in stark contrast to the 1-0 victory over Crewe, when United were not at their best but got over the line.

Robinson said: “Sometimes results can mask poor performances and if you keep playing like we did against Crewe, you’ll lose more games than you win.

“If we play consistently like that (at Bolton), you start winning more games.”

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He added: “It’s about tightening the bolts, just making sure we’re a little bit ruthless in both boxes.

“This team’s probably better than what I thought it was.

“I feel now we’ve got tremendous flexibility to our shape.

“We’ve got energy to burn, I thought we looked fit in the second half.”

United had several chances to add to Matty Taylor’s 11th-minute opener, but were not ruthless enough as they lost for the first time this season.

The No 9 feels the U’s will improve and pointed to the last two campaigns, when they reached the Sky Bet League One play-offs.

Taylor said: “You live and die by your decisions on the pitch – your timing, the weight of passes, whether to stay with men.

“It’s split-second, but we played really well – the boys are disappointed but we’re not too downbeat.

“I felt worse the other night after we won, which says a lot.

“We’ll get better and better, we’ve shown that over the last few years.”