KARL Robinson said his Oxford United side is ‘miles away from being a good team’ after starting pre-season with a thrilling 3-2 win at Oxford City.

United’s head coach pointed to recent events that have irked him, but did not disclose in detail what had happened.

Robinson watched his team be pulled back from a 2-0 lead to 2-2 in the latter part of the game, only for Alex Gorrin to nick an even later winner.

However, off the field, Robinson was far from pleased.

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He said: “We weren’t great tonight but I didn’t expect anything other than what I’ve seen.

“The players have been brilliant but we’re still miles away from being a good team.

“There’s a few things that have happened in the last 24 hours with things that will stay internal.

“It’ll be one of them stories that we’ll talk about in a couple of weeks when we’re allowed to talk about it.”

The transfer window appears to be the source of the problem, as Robinson outlined what he thinks United requires.

“We know we need two left backs, a left-sided centre half, two left wingers – it’s clearly evident,” he said.

“If we want to compete in the league this year, this is not good enough where we’re sitting right now.

“I’m really pleased with where this group is at, but we’ve lost players so don’t expect this group to lose players and be better than last year when everybody else is improving.

“If we mean it, we go for it.

“I’m sorry if I’m bringing the level of excitement down, I’m not employed to accept ‘that’ll do’ – I’m employed to want more and be better.

“We want to be a team that’s rivalling the rest in this league, but right now this league is going insane.

“You can’t lose Rob Atkinson and Josh Ruffels and expect this team to go again – we’ve sold 11 and a half million in three years and reached the top six twice.”

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Robinson however singled out praise for the young players who stepped up against City, in particular Gatlin O’Donkor, who led the attack in the second half.

“Some of these young kids are top players and tonight young Gatlin certainly produced,” said Robinson.

“Not having Bodin or Winnall here shows we’ve still got good players to come back into this squad, and four or five to come in on top of what we already have.

“We’re working hard behind the scenes to make sure we’re competitive – this yellow shirt means a lot to us.

“From our point of view, we’ve come out of it unscathed and no injuries which is the pleasing thing.”

Meanwhile, Hoops forward Lewis Coyle turned the match on its head, coming off the bench to score twice.

He said: “We managed to get back into it and I think over 90 minutes, we’ve done well.

“It was good to get two goals and it was unlucky for the last goal but we take it, it’s a good 90 minutes in the bank.

“The gaffer put a lot of trust in me last year, I played the majority of the games and hopefully it will be the same again this year.

“It’s time to knuckle down now and get fit, I’ve got a lot of running to do to get back to the level I was at last year but we’ve still got a few weeks.”