The U’s were unbeaten in four Championship games before their 2-0 loss at St Mary’s thanks to goals from Cyle Larin and Shea Charles.
There are seven huge games remaining for the Yellows as they look to survive in the second tier.
“We’re in a good spot and I think it’s probably coming at a bad time if anything,” Long told BBC Radio Oxford after the match.
Sam Long applauds the Oxford United fans (Image: Jason Dawson)
“But we’ll take it anyway and we’ll use it to rest up, recoup and go again after the break.
“There’s a points total that we’re aiming for as a target, and that’s all we’re focusing on.
“If we focus on ourselves, I think we did it last year and look what happened, and if we do the same, I don’t see why we can’t do exactly the same as what we did last year.”
Two early goals downed the U’s on the south coast, conceding a poor opener after just six minutes and a screamer from Charles for the second.
Striker Will Lankshear had a perfect chance to get United back in the game in the second half when he found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but put the ball agonisingly wide.
“I don’t many people externally would have had us getting anything from the game, but we had belief and we were coming here fully in our minds to come get a result so we’re disappointed,” Long continued.
“It was a game of moments. To concede so early on two early goals, one poor and one that you can’t really do much about. We could’ve probably set up a little bit better but it’s a great strike.
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“It’s disappointing but if you’d have told us five games ago that we’d be in this position, any Oxford fan or player or staff member would’ve snapped your hand off.
“We’ve shown a lot of character to show that we’re fighting to obviously stay in this league.
“If our moments go in, especially in the second half, then it’s a different game and it would’ve looked a lot different towards the end of the game.
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“We’ve all been in those situations this year, we’ll never point fingers,” the 31-year-old said when recalling the first goal.
“Everybody knows their roles and responsibilities and it’s obviously a disappointing goal for us to concede as a team. When you concede that goal so early on as well it’s very difficult.
“Moving forward, they’re the sort of things that we need to brush up on. I think having those small lapses in concentration, we’ve got to be a bit better.”