City can prove the critics wrong at Aldershot tomorrow night, according to Robbie Threlfall.

Back-to-back losses have left them six points behind the play-offs and removed the feelgood factor that began the new year.

Wins over Lincoln and Bury have been consigned to history after City were beaten by Barnet and Oxford.

Threlfall admitted: “That’s the highs and lows of football. Losing the last two has cancelled out what we’d done.

“We can’t let the gap (to the play-offs) get any bigger now. We know we need to be more consistent.

“Aldershot’s going to be another tough one but we’ve got to look at it as a great chance to come back and prove everyone wrong.”

Threlfall made only his second start since September at the Kassam Stadium. Like the rest of the back four, he faced a huge workload as the home side poured forward at will.

Despite the one-sided pattern of the game, the young left back felt that City could have seen the job through.

“I think it was 80 minutes of solid defending but we still thought we could hang on.

“We were under the cosh but you expect a bit of pressure away from home. It was just frustrating we couldn’t see it through.

“We had a great chance to go 2-0 up with Omar (Daley), and if that had gone in it would have changed the game as well.

“The team defended pretty solidly and we’re all disappointed with the goals at the end.

“Their first one took it out of us and then the second just spun off my heel. I lost my bearings and the lad got the cross in.

“But it was coming because we were under so much pressure. Now we’ve got to put that behind us and look to bounce back against Aldershot.

“They’ve got a new manager but sometimes that can work both ways. Hopefully we can get a result there.”