MICHAEL Appleton admits back-to-back home defeats have left Oxford United with little margin for error in their bid to gatecrash the Sky Bet League One play-offs.

The gap to the top-six has widened to nine points following the twin setbacks against Bristol Rovers and Sheffield United.

Last month Appleton felt the U’s would need to win ten of their last 16 fixtures to force their way into contention.

Two wins and two defeats later, the head coach’s focus is on the short-term and getting a result at Peterborough United this Saturday.

He said: “If we are lucky enough to win eight games, we would at least make people nervous.

“From our point of view, we just have to make sure we recover from a couple of defeats and get back to winning ways.

“The last thing on my mind at the minute are the play-offs.”

He added: “I keep saying we need to win eight games as an absolute minimum to have any chance, but the games are running out.

“There are only 12 left now.”

United’s position comes as no surprise to Appleton, who has always felt a tilt at the play-offs this season would be a mammoth task.

The 3-2 defeat to Sheffield United was particularly relevant, showing the gap between themselves and the league leaders.

Appleton said: “We’re exactly where I said we would be.

“Sheffield United are where they are for a reason, we are where we are for a reason – we’re three or four players short of being able to compete with that type of side most weeks.

“In our dressing room, I feel we’ve got fantastic potential.

“If anything they were just a bit smarter than us in certain areas.

“The reality is we’ll never be at that point in terms of competing financially, but from an ability point of view, if we can have a squad as near to being as strong as that then we might have a chance.”

The big positive from the Blades clash was the return of four players who had missed the Rovers game with injuries.

Chris Maguire and Curtis Nelson played the full game, while Rob Hall and Kane Hemmings got through 80 minutes.

Providing none of the quartet suffered any reaction yesterday, they are expected to be available for the trip to London Road.

Appleton said: “None of them had any issues.

“The game will do them good going forward.

“As long as they don’t have any reactions then I expect them to be fine on Saturday.”