CHARLIE Raglan had no issue over the result as Oxford United were knocked out of the Checkatrade Trophy by an accomplished Chelsea Under 21s at Stamford Bridge.

The hosts had a foot in the semi-finals after only 16 minutes, when Daishawn Redan added to Harvey St Clair’s opener for a 2-0 lead.

United’s best moments all came immediately after half-time, but having failed to reduce the deficit, they were cut adrift by Juan Castillo’s goal just after the hour mark.

While Raglan was pleased to make his first appearance of the season after a serious ankle injury, the centre back could not make a case for United to feel hard done by about the result.

He said: “They were very good and deserved to win.

“There were times when we had the ball, but we’re disappointed that there were things we should’ve been better at than them and we didn’t raise our standards at the right time.”

Caretaker boss Derek Fazackerley, who switched to a back three for the game, knew United had fallen short.

He said: “Defensively we’ve got to be a lot stronger. We allowed them too much space around our penalty area to get shots away.

“Things we looked to do to stop them playing we didn’t do on a couple of occasions and it’s cost us dearly.

“We’re leaking goals at the moment and until we stop that it’s difficult to make progress going forward.

“We had possession but that’s not too meaningful unless you’re getting shots away.

“We certainly didn’t work the goalkeeper enough.”