DAMIAN Batt says that Oxford United ’s poor run is one of the toughest times of his career.

The right back has been involved throughout the team’s rise out of the Conference and back into the Football League.

But Batt says their current sequence of defeats has really hurt the squad.

And the 28-year-old is determined to play his part at Rotherham today as the U’s bid to avoid an unwanted club record of six consecutive league defeats in one season.

“It has been a hard month,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that.

“We have a team full of winners here and whether it’s in training or on a match day, we all want to win all the time.

“Going through this run of defeats has been hard, but we are all determined to put it right.”

Batt has been part of a defence which has conceded 15 goals in five league matches, something else that has tested the resolve of the back line.

“We pride ourselves on keeping it tight at the back and that hasn’t happened of late,” he said.

“It’s been very unlike us – ever since I have been here we have had a solid defence and we certainly need to get back to that.”

Although they have been hit hard by injuries, Batt admits that the players who have been involved over the past month know that they are under-performing.

And he says it is sometimes difficult when things aren’t going your way because your game is not as natural as it should be.

“It’s been hard with the injuries and it has affected us,” he said.

“But the players who go out there on the pitch have to take responsibility as a group and we know we have not been good enough.

“You can over-think about things though. When you are winning games, you go out and just play and things happen naturally.

“But when you’re losing, you over-analyse and it can be something that affects you.

“We are all going to Rotherham in positive mood though, and hopefully we will get the right result.”