CIARON Brown revealed there were times he could not hear himself speak during Oxford United's defeat to Sunderland.

A sell-out crowd of almost 11,700 fans packed into the Kassam Stadium for the clash between two Sky Bet League One play-off rivals.

The home faithful got behind United as they hunted a result to reignite their top-six push and Brown could feel the atmosphere on the pitch.

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The defender said: “There were times I couldn’t even speak to anyone.

“I was screaming at people saying ‘I need you here’, but I couldn’t hear anything.

“You want the fans pumping you up and getting behind you – that’s what we’re going to need for the next four games and they’ll do that to the final whistle.”

It was United's sixth crowd of more than 10,000 supporters in their last seven home games and the first league sell-out at Grenoble Road since Boxing Day 2016.

Ultimately, the 1,782 visiting fans went home happy after Elliot Embleton's 89th-minute strike condemned the U’s to their third defeat in a week.

Like against Plymouth Argyle and Morecambe in their previous two games, United were on top for large parts of the match but could not convert possession and chances into goals.

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The U’s stay eighth in League One and Brown thought their luck was out against the Black Cats.

The 24-year-old said: “It kind of summed up our week.

“I thought we were the better team in all three games, we’ve been a bit hard done by.

“It’s a hard one to take, but we’ll keep fighting.

“I’d rather people write us off because we’ll go into these games with no pressure and they’ll forget about us.”

United are four points off the top six with four matches remaining, although Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland, in fifth and sixth respectively, have games in hand.

They went behind to Corry Evans’ 16th-minute strike, but controlled most of the contest and captain Elliott Moore equalised before the break on his return from injury.

The U’s created several openings, none better than when Black Cats goalkeeper Anthony Patterson brilliantly pushed away Brown’s header from six yards out.

The Cardiff City loanee said: “I’ve made good contact and it was going in, I felt like I couldn’t do much more.

“The keeper’s made a good save and that’s the luck we’ve had in the last week, keepers being on top of their game.”