Oxford United head for Wigan on Saturday with boss Karl Robinson looking for his side to bounce back after defeat in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.
It’s the third away game of the week for the U’s and as Karl told iFollow he is challenging his players to rise to the challenge of a tricky looking run of games.
“We work in blocks of five games and this is the hardest block since I took over as Manager here” he said. “We started with Ipswich away, then we have Wigan away, Fleetwood right in the middle of the block then Rotherham at home and Sunderland away. Those are five very big games right at a key stage of the season.
“We have to navigate through those five and we have to be prepared for every possibility: there may be disappointments in those games but we hope there are plenty more positives. But we can’t let losing in the FA Cup affect us for these five league games. It hurt us to lose, of course it did, but we go to Wigan on Saturday wounded by that result and by some of the things we did in that game. That’s a good thing and a good place for a coach to be working with them so we can’t wait to challenge ourselves against a very good Wigan team.
“Wigan’s staff have been incredible and in the middle of the negative stuff they went through last year they worked really hard, they brought the kids through and added to the depth of a squad which they have added some really good players to this season.
“But we can go there full of confidence from some really good performances away from home at places like Hillsborough and Portman Road.
“There are some really testing places to go to away from home this season, and none more so than we face on Saturday. But we feel as though we are in a good place ourselves and as I said after the game on Tuesday, we can;t wait to get up north and get back out there again.”