SHANDON Baptiste will come back a better player after a superb start to the season was soured by his red card in midweek, according to boss Karl Robinson.

The 20-year-old was made Oxford United captain, but collected two bookings in the home clash with Luton Town.

After being cautioned, Baptiste appeared to have been given a final warning by referee Michael Salisbury before half-time.

But a lunge saw him see red with 17 minutes remaining, leaving the U’s with ten men as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat in stoppage-time.

It brought to an end a stunning few weeks for the midfielder, who signed a long-term contract last month after establishing himself in the side.

Robinson claimed he was seconds away from substituting the Grenada international to avoid such a problem, but was anxious to keep the rising star out of the firing line.

He said: “What I don’t want anyone to do is to have a go at Shandon.

“Please, if you want to blame me for that, it’s not a problem.

“Don’t have a go at this young kid, he’s the future of the football club.

“Nights like this will only make him a better player for the club in future years. He has to learn a valuable lesson, but you’ve just got to take that on the chin.

“He needs love and support.”

It was a flash of inexperience from Baptiste, who has started just six games in the Football League and will now be suspended for Saturday’s visit to Southend United.

Defender Curtis Nelson said: “He had a couple of chances where he probably could have gone a bit earlier.

“He rode his luck a bit and maybe rode it a little bit too long.

“He’s got to learn that you can’t make those mistakes, especially in games of this magnitude.

“It can’t happen and he knows that.

“He’s disappointed with himself and he’ll learn from that.”

The defeat heaped more pressure on United, who have lost eight of their 11 league games this season.

It left them again searching for a solution to the problem.

Nelson said: “We’re all looking for an answer of what to do.

“Everyone’s scratching their heads, shouting, screaming, whatever needs to be done has to be done.

“It’s been like that for the last couple of games.

“It’s not like we’re a disjointed changing room at all, because we’ll come in on Thursday and all get on.

“We’ve got a great group of lads and you can’t fault the work ethic in the team. We just need to learn.”