DANNY Hylton admitted Oxford United let themselves down and suggested they were outworked by visitors Luton Town in a 3-2 loss at the Kassam Stadium.

The result saw the cushion over fourth place slashed to a single point with four games remaining in the battle for automatic promotion from Sky Bet League Two.

It was a desperately disappointing defeat, especially as Hylton got the U’s off to a flying start by opening the scoring in the second minute.

But defensive errors turned a comfortable afternoon into a nightmare for Michael Appleton’s men, who conceded twice on the stroke of half-time and then once more shortly after Chey Dunkley’s equaliser.

Hylton said: “We started well, but fair play to Luton. They played OK, we probably didn’t match them in terms of work rate.

“If we work hard there’s no team in this league who will match us for ability and passing.

“We let ourselves down a little bit.

“God knows why, it’s a long season and sometimes you get games like that you can’t explain.”

He added: “We’re not over the moon with the goals we conceded.

“That’s not me pointing fingers at the back four, that’s saying as a team it was too easy sometimes to pass through us.

“We lost, it’s gone, let’s go and win on Tuesday (at Newport County).”

Luton boss Nathan Jones felt there would have only been one result if the visitors had come to take United on at their own game, so was thrilled the plan came off.

He said: “I believe they are the best team in the league in terms of how they play and the players they’ve got.

“So to come here and put on the performance we did I’m really pleased.

“We feel their first goal was avoidable and they would say the same about the first goal they conceded.

“We set up to counter-attack, because of the qualities they have if you open up and go really expansive they have the quality to go in and really hurt you.”

United had looked in charge of the game until the 44th minute, when goalkeeper Benji Buchel made a mess of a Jonjoe Kenny backpass.

His slip led to Joe Pigott tapping into an empty net, but Dunkley said the goalkeeper did not need to apologise.

“We’ve all got responsibilities out there and he’s made loads of saves over the course of the season where it’s been important for us,” he said.

“We weren’t ‘at it’, but we have a game on Tuesday we’re all looking forward to.

“We need to get back to basics and get a win there, that’s our focus now.”