Jason Knight sets Bristol City objective after Robins' 'disappointing' Oxford United defeat | Bristol Live

Jason Knight started and captained Bristol City as they suffered their first league defeat of the season against Oxford United

Bristol City need to lick their wounds and "move on quickly" from their defeat to Oxford United, admits Jason Knight, with the Robins back in Championship action later this week against Preston North End.

City's unbeaten start to the Championship season was brought to an end on Sunday afternoon as Gary Rowett’s side ran out 3-1 winners at Ashton Gate. Although a special Anis Mehmeti strike threatened a comeback, goals from Nik Prelec, Prezemyslaw Placheta, and Gregory Leigh proved to be enough for the U’s to secure their first league win of the campaign.

Oxford took the lead after 19 minutes when Prelec headed home a Brian De Keersmaecker free-kick from the right wing, having found himself in plenty of space inside the Reds’ box. The away side’s advantage was then doubled on the stroke of half-time when Placheta cannoned into the top corner from the edge of the box after Knight half-cleared a corner.

Mehmeti's fourth of the season gave the Robins hope early in the second half. The Albanian smashed past Jamie Cumming and into the back of the net off the underside of the crossbar from some 25 yards to energise the Ashton Gate crowd, but City couldn't find that all-important leveller before Leigh's late header ended any hopes of a turnaround.

Naturally, the result was disappointing for supporters, management and players alike, but it was the manner of the away side's three goals that left Knight frustrated after the full-time whistle.

“Like you say, a tough game for us," the Reds captain told BBC Radio Bristol post-match. "The game is kind of in the balance, and then three sort of set-piece goals define the game.

"Obviously, their second one is a good goal, but it’s certainly something we’ve been really good at this year, and we’ve sort of let ourselves down in that element today in defending our box. A really tough day, but we’ll just put it down to that, lick our wounds, and move on.

"[They're] good goals from their point of view, but really poor from us," Knight continued. "A couple of goals, just easy headers in the middle of our box that we shouldn’t be giving up, and then you’re sort of chasing the game.

"We do well, Anis scores a great goal to get us back into the game, and you sort of feel like we’re going to kick on, and then another set-piece, which is really disappointing. It summed up a real disappointment of a day, really, a lacking of the basics set us off on the wrong foot, but like I say, we’ve just got to put it to bed now. It’s only one game and [we need to] move on well."

On top of the defeat, City were handed a blow early in Sunday's contest when Rob Atkinson was forced off after just 15 minutes. The defender had gone down inside the Oxford penalty area and received treatment on the field before being replaced by George Tanner without attempting to play on.

Given Atkinson's injury history - the 27-year-old was sidelined for the best part of two years after an ACL injury in 2023 - fans have been left concerned about just how severe this issue could be.

Though Struber was unable to provide an in-depth update post-match, with the former Portsmouth loanee set to undergo a scan on Monday, from Knight's perspective, the early signs were hopeful.

"I just spoke to him a little bit there," Knight explained. "It doesn’t look too bad, but obviously, he’ll have to get checked and looked over properly.

"Like you say, fingers crossed."

Whether with or without Atkinson, Struber's side's first chance to get back to winning ways comes this weekend when they travel to Deepdale to face Preston North End on Saturday afternoon. The Lilywhites currently sit fifth in the Championship, level on points with City, having won three of their opening six league matches.

Paul Heckingbottom's side will come into Saturday's clash off the back of their first win in four matches, after they beat Derby County 1-0 at Pride Park thanks to a first-half goal from Alfie Devine. Although they only avoided relegation with a draw against the Reds at Ashton Gate on the final day of last season, Preston have looked much improved so far this term.

Understandably, City will be keen to avoid their first league defeat of the season being the catalyst for a winless run as they look to remain competitive at the top end of the Championship this term.

When asked if it was as simple as parking the defeat and moving on at Deepdale, the midfielder replied, "We have to, because we want to be up the side of the table throughout the season and really kick on to try and do the best that we can.

"We’ve got to move on quickly. We’ve got a good week now to prepare for Preston and put things right."