DES Buckingham says Oxford United will have to work on set pieces after watching his side let slip a two-goal advantage.

The U’s raced into a 2-0 lead at home to Derby County, however three goals from set pieces and balls swung into the United box ensured the Rams left Grenoble Road with all three points.

Cameron Brannagan provided the U’s with a two-goal cushion, however Craig Forsyth’s goal at the back post from a corner proved instrumental just before half-time.

United head coach Buckingham said: “We switched off in overtime, there was two minutes of extra time and they’ve scored in the 48th minute.

“We switched off from a corner, which gives them a sniff and an opportunity to get their way back into the game, and then in the second half, we had to make an enforced change.

“Tyler [Goodrham] unfortunately tightened up in his hamstring, so we had to make a change a little bit sooner than we wanted, which affects the game plan.

“We’ve ended up focusing on trying not to lose the game, to try and hold on to the win, and we’ve defended well to an extent, but we’ve also taken away what we want to do with the ball.

“When you have to make a change that you weren’t planning to make, it does effect what you want to do, but when you’re at home and you’re 2-0 up, you must make sure you continue to play the way you want with the ball.

“We can’t switch off as a collective and give them an opportunity from the corner on the stroke of half-time because that gives the opposition a slight lift.

“It’s then making sure we manage the game a bit better in the second half, and not to play into the hands of the opposition.”

On defending set pieces, Buckingham said: “It’s an area we’ll spend a lot of time working on, I think that’s five goals in three games now, from set pieces.

“We’re not the biggest side, we know that, but we need to at least match up and be smart in certain areas, to make sure we don’t allow that to be a continuing trend from this point.”

Buckingham also rued a couple of openings his side failed to take advantage of, in order to kill the game.

He said: “They’re a good side, a very experienced side, and a big, physical side. The game they play is largely around getting the ball into the box and feeding into those players.

“They committed a lot of players forward and released their centre back for the final third, so left it one versus one at the back.

“It opened up space on the transition, and there were two opportunities which could’ve made the game 3-1 before it became 2-2, and they’re moments that you have to take.”