KARL Robinson blasted his side for ‘disrespecting’ their Papa John’s Trophy clash with Chelsea Under-21s.

The U’s took an early first-half lead when Matty Taylor poked home with 10 minutes on the clock.

The goal took United’s No 9 to 60 goals for the club, and joint-ninth on the goalscoring charts, equal with Billy Rees.

However, two goals in four minutes during the latter stages of the game saw Chelsea’s talented youngsters take the three points in the Southern Group G tie.

Head coach Robinson was less than impressed with the way his team failed to see out the game having led for so long.

“I thought for 60 minutes we were good, we missed one or two chances,” said Robinson.

“In a 15-minute period in the second half, we created more chances than in the first half, when we were leading.

“And then we got sloppy, and started disrespecting the tie.

“We became open, we were looking at some of the running data and some of that was really high.

“The problem is the spaces in the middle of the pitch.

“Some players let themselves down, which we’d rather keep internal.

“I just think it was a very poor last 20 minutes and disrespectful of the game, and I’ve had that conversation with them very abruptly.

“Both of their goals were fantastic finishes but from my point of view, I’m not going to lose sleep.

“I’ll be really frustrated with aspects but I’m not going to come out and be critical of my team, you sometimes have to keep your powder dry.”

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Chelsea’s leveller came through a superb lob by Mason Burstow, who had spotted goalkeeper Simon Eastwood off his line.

Robinson dismissed any notion that the 33-year-old was at fault for the equalising goal.

He said: “I thought Easty was our best player.

“He does it every day in training and he’s in tremendous form.”

The former Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper had earlier made brilliant saves to deny Omari Hutchinson from a free-kick, while also producing a double save to deny Hutchinson from the penalty spot.

Robinson felt the overwhelming concern for his team was the injury to Lewis Bate.

The Leeds United loanee, who played for Chelsea Under-21s in this competition at the Kassam Stadium in September 2020, hobbled off on 62 minutes after taking a knock following a tackle.

Robinson said the damage was to the top of the midfielder’s foot, but it was too soon to offer a concrete diagnosis.

“The biggest negativity is Lewis Bate, it was a bad tackle,” said Robinson.

“It wasn’t a great tackle and he’ll have to go for an X-ray.

“I’m not going to comment too soon, we’ll probably get a little bit of luck with this one.”