Boro’s boss says he needs to work out whether players are following his instructions after heavy defeat to Oxford

Teddy Sheringham says he remains the man to take Stevenage forward.

Boro were handed a 5-1 home thrashing at the hands of Oxford United on Saturday, and also had two men sent off in the game.

The result means the club has won just one of their last 11 matches, and they have not kept a clean sheet since the win over Hartlepool United on August 22.

Boro are currently 20th in the League Two table, five points above the relegation zone, while next weekend they face high-flying League One side Gillingham in the FA Cup.

Speaking about yesterday’s performance, Sheringham said: “I’ve got complaints about me and my team. That was not good enough. You could tell from the sideline that Oxford were so much better than us.

“Without doubt we’re in a dogfight and we need to sort it out. I am the man to take Stevenage forward without a shadow of a doubt.

“The result looks humiliating but if you go down to nine men it’s tough. The damage was done in the first 20 minutes and we need to put that right – and then you can compete in games.

“You are going to concede goals when you are trying to get back into the game with nine men. That’s not really the issue – the issue is when it’s 11 v 11 and the game is there in the balance.

“And that’s when you want to be standing up to things. And that’s not just the back four – the back four takes the brunt of it but the problem is the first 20 minutes all over the pitch.”

Sheringham also says that the gameplan he wanted his players to implement was not carried out by his team, which in itself is a concern.

“We had a gameplan but it wasn’t carried out. That’s the disappointing thing,” Sheringham added.

“I’ve had words with the team for half an hour in the dressing room at the end of the game because my gameplan wasn’t carried out.

“I need to work out whether the players are following instructions – that’s for me to work out. We didn’t do what we needed to do, what we set out to do – and that’s for me to sort out.

“I’m a very optimistic person but our performance wasn’t good enough. The result was a combination of us not being good enough and Oxford being very good. They were a very good team and they knew exactly what they needed to do.

“One or two of my players stepped up to the plate but if you don’t do it as a team then that’s when you have problems as it looks very disjointed.

“We’re the home team and we should be coming out strongly but on the day it was Oxford who did that.”