Mansfield Town manager Paul Cox has urged his players to use Saturday's defeat against Oxford United as part of a "learning curve".

The Stags lost 3-0 at the Kassam Stadium, despite creating a number of chances in the League Two encounter.

"I'm gobsmacked at the amount of chances we had throughout the game, someone has told me it was 14 on goal," Cox is quoted as saying by Sky Sports. "That's the difference. Oxford are geared for promotion, they've got that know-how in the team.

"I've said to my players, it's a massive learning curve for us. They had only five or six efforts on goal and they put three of them away. We are creating a lot of chances, they just need to be put away.

"The scoreline says 3-0 and on paper it looks like a tonking, but it's frustrating because for much of the game we were the better team."

Mansfield return to action next weekend when they host Fleetwood Town.