Accrington Stanley captain Luke Joyce is urging his team-mates to put their defeat at Torquay behind them as they prepare for a busy week in League Two.

The Reds travel to Oxford this weekend before hosting York City on Tuesday night and Joyce is confident that they will suffer no hangover from their 3-1 reverse at Plainmoor.

"The lads who played watched the DVD on Monday with the gaffer and we went through it, not to have a go at anyone or to tell people it was their fault, but to try to learn from it, look at the bad positions we got in and how we can make it better," Joyce said.

"We have to learn lessons and take it into the next couple of games now.

"We play on Saturday and then Tuesday and we need to make sure that we’re not making the same mistakes again and hopefully put that Torquay game behind us.

"We have to try and use that disappointment and use it as a bit of extra motivation – not that we need any more motivation – to play a lot better at Oxford.

"We’ve lost two on the bounce now and we certainly don’t want that to turn into three on the bounce on Saturday."

The 25-year-old has been an ever-present for Paul Cook’s team in league games so far and believes that the next week presents an unmissable opportunity for them to climb back into contention at the top of the table.

"You never forget about the really disappointing days because they always linger in your mind," he said.

"But if we can pick up two positive results then hopefully we can be back in those play-off places where we want to be."

Stanley will look to make history at the Kassam Stadium, having never beaten Oxford, though the teams have only met four times in their history.

Chris Wilder’s team have made an indifferent start to the season but Joyce feels they can’t be underestimated.

"Oxford lost 3-0 at Port Vale on Monday and aren’t perhaps doing as well as they might expect to be doing after having a strong finish to last season," he explained.

"I think they’re in the bottom half of the table and will be looking to turn that around but we can’t really look at their league position because we went to Dagenham who were towards the bottom of the league and had a really tough afternoon.

"We need to make sure that we’re right first, give Oxford the respect they deserve but just focus on ourselves and our own game."

Then in midweek the Minstermen visit the Crown Ground for the first time since 2005 as they look to continue their promising return to the Football League.

"Lancashire against Yorkshire games tend to be good ones with a good atmosphere," said Joyce.

"York have had a good start and it should be a good game and a good test but we have to focus on Oxford, get a positive result and go into that one full of confidence.

"The gaffer has a motto about not getting too down at your defeats and too high in your victories and we need to make sure we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves after two defeats, but we also need to make sure that it doesn’t last any longer.

"We want to set out on a positive run. We’re only three or four points away from fourth place with a game in hand so if we can get a decent little run together we could be right up there.

"That’s where we want to be and that’s where we expect to be if we play to our potential."