Oxford United Boss Liam Manning will be looking for a positive response when his side kick off their home season against Carlisle United on Saturday.
The U’s are at home at the Kassam Stadium for the first time when they welcome Paul Simpson’s newly promoted Cumbrians and Liam is looking for his players to give the fans a performance to remember:
“Home form is always a key thing” he told us. “Our fans have been brilliant on the road at Cambridge and Bristol. Now it is our turn to give them something to cheer about with the first home game.
“I was quite mixed after Wednesday night” he said after going out of the Carabao Cup at Bristol City.”I thought there were a large number of positives despite the scoreline. I’d argue that we should have been ahead before they scored their first goal, we did have chances, But quite quickly when you are playing against players at Bristol’s level when you make a mistake you pay for it and it ends up in the back of your goal.
“I don’t think we made the keeper work hard enough. But we had an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old as our front three, playing against a very experienced side and that will be is a good thing in terms of all their development and the future.
“The big thing for me now is how we respond. We won’t panic after two games and it won’t ruin a very solid pre-season where we did a lot of good work. We won’t get over emotional after just five or six days of a long season but I will be expecting a reaction on Saturday.
“There will be a good crowd, there will be a decent atmosphere and we can’t wait to get out there again, in front of our own supporters, show a response and show what we can do.”
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