DANNY Hylton questioned Oxford United’s desire as they “self-destructed” in a 5-1 hammering at Cambridge United.

The striker headed the visitors in front at the Abbey Stadium, but from then on the game unravelled horribly.

It was United’s heaviest defeat for four years and Hylton pulled no punches in a frank analysis of the performance.

The 25-year-old admitted they had fallen short in the most basic of areas.

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He said: “There probably wasn’t enough want and desire in the team.

“Cambridge wanted it more.

“They were bigger, stronger and were first to every ball, even when they went 1-0 down.

“We can’t let that happen and the least you can do is work hard, run around and put yourself about.

“I just can’t defend it, we let ourselves down massively.”

Worryingly, United’s top scorer felt there was a sense of inevitability about the way Cambridge hit back.

The home side had looked dangerous before Kwesi Appiah struck twice in four minutes just before half-time to turn the game on its head.

And Hylton had concerns well before the goals arrived.

He said: “I was happy to score, but I think after that we didn’t really do anything.

“We didn’t kick on and try to score another one, we just sat back and they were getting into some good positions.

“I thought the warning signs were there and it looked from where I was that it was only going to be a matter of time before they scored.

“Once the first one went in I felt we self-destructed. We went to pot.

“I can’t really defend that performance, right the way through the team.

“We’ve all got to take responsibility and it’s just not good enough on the day.”

Hylton provided the only bright spell of the game for the visitors, when he bagged his eighth goal of the season with a ninth-minute header.

It came after failing to find the net in the previous three games, the longest barren spell of his short time at United.

But the No 10 was bitterly disappointed it ended up being a mere consolation.

He said: “I was delighted obviously to score, I’ve gone a couple of games without a goal.

“Going 1-0 up I thought we could go on and win.

“This season when we’ve got the first goal we’ve always gone on to get something.

“It’s important to get the first goal, but we didn’t kick on and conceded five.”

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