Saturday’s defeat at Lincoln City may have taken the shine off Karl Robinson’s birthday celebrations but has also made the United boss even more determined to get his side back on track when they welcome Watford in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening (7pm)
“It wasn't the best of birthdays” Karl, who turned 40 on Sunday, told iFollow “but I watched Saturday's game back five times - I bet I’m the only one to have done that yesterday!
"The more I watched it the more I realised that we played well and had chances and then today in training the players looked really sharp and had clearly been thinking about last Saturday as well and were determined to put things right, even if we are playing a very good Championship side.
“Watford are a Premier League club really but we enjoy cup games like this one and it’s a chance for us to show what we can do once again.”
Although Rob Atkinson's red card at Lincoln has been overturned after an appeal United have injury worries ahead of the game.
“Obviously Josh Ruffels, now we have the results of his scan back, will be out for a couple of weeks at least and Jamie Hanson will be out for a similar time still.
"Alex Gorrin is still struggling and Matty Taylor and Mark Sykes are both doubtful for Tuesday while Sam Winnall is still regaining his full fitness. We will take a look at who is available but I was always planning to make changes for this game anyway. We did the same in the first rounds last year and we need to make sure we have players fresh for Saturday when we play Sunderland at home in the league.
“But I am pleased with the mentality of the players today. They listened and they took on board what we were saying about Saturday and about Watford. That’s what we are all about: developing and improving as a team and they certainly did that today.”
See the full interview in iFollow where you can also see the whole game LIVE with commentary from BBC Oxford from 7pm.