MICHAEL Appleton says Oxford United will not pay attention to criticism from outside the camp as they look to recover from the midweek defeat to Hartlepool United.

A five-game unbeaten run had seen the U’s climb away from trouble, but the 2-0 loss against a side propping up Sky Bet League Two saw anxiety return on the terraces.

With nine games of the season remaining, the cushion over the bottom two is down to six points, meaning there is still plenty of work to do before the side’s Football League status is guaranteed.

A section of supporters were vocal in their discontent before the final whistle, when boos rang around the Kassam Stadium.

But Appleton, who sought to play down the significance of the result, stressed the key to building a new unbeaten run lay in listening to voices inside the club, rather than become distracted by external opinions.

He said: “We have to refocus and move on.

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“We’ve done well for five games, we took nine points from it and I’m delighted with that.

“What we won’t do is get carried away and start feeling sorry for ourselves and listen to people who aren’t in that dressing room with us and can’t affect anything.

“It’s going to be topsy-turvy. It’s about what we do, not what anyone else does.

“We are in control of our own destiny and as long as that happens you’ve got to remain focused and that’s what the players will do.”

He added: “We’ve had tests over the last five or six games and they’ve dealt with it quite well, so I expect them to continue to do that.”

Highest on a list of United’s problems is scoring goals, which again proved costly against Hartlepool.

They have scored just five times in the last eight games, the majority of which came in the 3-0 win over Mansfield Town last month.

Top scorer Danny Hylton is available for Saturday’s trip to high-flying Shrewsbury Town, but Appleton acknowledged there was an issue.

He said: “It is, but it’s not for the want of effort and certainly the players are working really hard to put that right.

“I’d be a lot more concerned if we weren’t creating opportunities, but I think we created more in the first five minutes (against Hartlepool) than we did in the whole game on Saturday (a goalless draw with Plymouth Argyle).

“We’ve just got to keep the faith.

“There’s a real focus about the players, regardless of what’s happened and we’ve just got to continue to do that.”