Appleton realises size of task

Michael Appleton admitted it is taking longer than expected to turn things around at Oxford after they were beaten 2-0 by Luton.

The hosts took the lead after just 80 seconds when defender Luke Wilkinson rose highest to nod home Jake Howells' cross. And Howells himself added a second after the break to send the U's into the bottom two. Former Blackpool and Blackburn manager Appleton, who took over the U's in the summer, said: "I think it's tested my patience a few times, but at the end of the day, you're there to be shot at and I've got no issues with that at all. "I said right from the start, I won't be taking a backwards step and I certainly won't be doing anything differently this coming week or the following week, or the following week after that. "It's going to take a little bit of time, it's already taken a little bit longer than I fully expected. "But when you break the game down like I did do, it's about taking chances when they come along and trying to restrict the opposition to as few chances as you possibly can." Meanwhile, Hatters first-team coach Hakan Hayrettin hailed the victory. He said: "It's a great result for the football club and I think the boys showed great spirit and determination to see it through. "They're a good team, we know what they're going to bring to the table and I thought we were outstanding. "We've had people with stomach upsets and the flu, we had to rethink the structure of the team today and it worked for us. "The depth in our squad is quite deep, we've got some good players coming back from injury and it worked for us. "Ideally we would have had a lot more players pick from, we didn't, but the boys we put out there did terrific."