DES Buckingham protected his goalkeeper after watching him concede five times in Oxford United’s dismal defeat at Bolton Wanderers.

Chelsea loanee Jamie Cumming has endured mixed fortunes since arriving in January to replace James Beadle, who was recalled by Brighton & Hove Albion before being sent to Sky Bet Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.

After finding his feet, Beadle has impressed in the second tier, keeping five clean sheets in 10 games for a side currently second from bottom and scrapping for survival.

Cumming meanwhile has shown that he is a decent shot-stopper, particularly when it comes to reflex saves, however his game has included a handful of worrying mistakes.

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Against the Trotters, he was involved in a calamitous mix-up for the second goal in United’s 5-0 humbling.

The 24-year-old came out of his goal to try and intercept a long ball played into the left corner of his penalty area, but instead he and Greg Leigh got in each other’s way and allowed Josh Dacres-Cogley to poke home into an unguarded net.

Bolton’s final goal of the evening saw Josh Sheehan strike from 20 yards, through the bodies, but with the ball bouncing near Cumming before it nestled into the corner.

U’s head coach Buckingham said: “Jamie hadn’t played a lot of football before he came here, so it was always going to take time for him to settle.

“He’s had some very good moments, and there are other moments where there are a lot of things we need to do before it gets to Jamie.

“When a player does well, the player will take credit, but it’s often the result of a lot of things that have got them to that stage.

“We need to make sure we don’t look at that in isolation, and make sure we address where it started and how it got there.”

Discussing the goals that saw his team go into the half-time break 2-0 down, Buckingham said: “The first one is a throw-in where we need to keep them on one side and not allow them to switch play and go out the other side, and it catches us out.

“The second one is just a long ball over the top, and the run on has caused confusion between defender and goalkeeper, and it’s an easy tap-in.

“You’re coming to a team that are fighting for automatic promotion, away from home in a good stadium against a good team.

“You don’t give teams like that 2-0 head starts, and make it as challenging as it was to chase the game.”