Paul Carden was angry and upset at the manner of Cambridge United's 3-1 defeat at Oxford on Tuesday night.

Manager Gary Brabin declared himself "not happy" with the performance and urged his players to "wake up and get on with it", but Carden went further as he called for United's players to kick-start their own season and stop doing favours for other clubs.

"Oxford came out with fire in their bellies - that was shown by the way their skipper nailed Robbie Willmott in the first minute," he stated. "And that summed the game up.

"They were in our faces a lot more than we were in theirs and only for a spell of 20 minutes in the second half when we got it to 1-1 was the result in doubt. Over the full 90 minutes we can't really complain about the result.

"We keep saying after games that we can put it right, but we have to shut our mouths and get on with it, as Oxford have shown today. They've rolled their sleeves up and gone out there and it was 'do or die'."

United face struggling Grays at home on Sunday afternoon and Carden wants no repeat of the lacklustre display at the Kassam Stadium.

"We've got to stop helping clubs kick-start their seasons, like we've done here and against Torquay," he stated.

"We can't keep doing that; we have to be up for the fight from the first whistle. We can't start games slowly and can't finish games slowly as we have done tonight - we have to be up for the fight from kick-off, and if it has to be 100 miles an hour at 100% all the way through the game, then it will be so.

"Oxford were like that and we need to be like that," he stressed. "There wasn't the neat and tidy passing play from them - they were direct and battled us all over the pitch. There were times we were out-battled out there and that's not what myself or the gaffer wants or expects from the players. We want to play football but we have to earn the right.

"We're not on a good run but it's up to us to grind a result out on Sunday and kick-start our own season. We have the characters in this squad to do that and it's now time to stop the talking and get on with the job at hand. "

Interview by David Gray

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