Oxford United boss Karl Robinson gives his thoughts on his side's play-off exit at the hands of Blackpool

Karl Robinson admits his Oxford United side were beaten by the better team over the two legs of their play-off semi-final against Blackpool.
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Blackpool 3-3 Oxford United (6-3 on aggregate): Seasiders book their place in th...

The Seasiders booked their place in the League One play-off final thanks to a breathless 3-3 draw in the second leg at Bloomfield Road last night.

Neil Critchley's side, who will face either Lincoln City or Sunderland for a place in the Championship, won 6-3 on aggregate.

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Pool, leading 3-0 from Tuesday’s game at the Kassam, got off to the worst possible start when the U’s took the lead inside seven minutes.

But the Seasiders produced an inspired response, scoring twice in as many minutes to the delight of the returning 4,000 Pool fans - and there was a cauldron of noise inside Bloomfield Road throughout.

Oxford would draw level on the night for a second time at the start of the second-half and again late on after Jerry Yates had put Pool ahead.

But in the end, it proved immaterial, with the damage already done in Blackpool’s dominant first leg victory.

Oxford boss Karl RobinsonOxford boss Karl Robinson
Oxford boss Karl Robinson
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For Oxford, their semi-final exit is the second season running they've lost out in the play-offs, having been beaten by Wycombe Wanderers in last season's final.

"We can say all the positive things, but we obviously lost it in the first game," Robinson said.

"The craziness of the whole tie is that they've scored four goals in five-and-a-half minutes.

"It's sickening, but I think we're short on physicality in certain areas and that's something we have to address. That's been evident in some of the bigger games this season, that we're a little bit short.

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"You can be a bit more honest about the things you want to work on because the season is now gone and you thank the players for working hard. But we shouldn't even be here.

"I just want to say a big thank you to the fans for their support on social media and the way they've got behind the players, but I don't think we thought we'd be in the position where we'd be in two play-off campaigns where we've fallen short at the final hurdle.

"We wish Blackpool luck because that's what we do, that's the way we do things. We're edgy, we want to fight for everything, but at the same time when we know we're short we're very honest about that as well.

"I'm proud of the players, I'm proud of our football club. The players we've got are special people, they're not arrogant or egotistical, which is often the perception of footballers.

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"We've just fallen short as a team against a side who were a better team than us over two legs."

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