Oxford United fans were the driving force in Saturday’s win at Leyton Orient.
That’s the view of winger Stanley Mills, who has been in fine form since joining on loan from Everton, contributing goals and assists and thoroughly enjoying his time with the U’s.
“The fans were class on Saturday,” he told iFollow earlier today. “They were so loud throughout the game. Since I’ve been here that’s the loudest they have been and it really pushed us on to get the three points.
“It was a tough game to go there. The style that Orient play is always going to be hard to deal with. They want to build around second balls and are going to fight for any that drop in the box, but once we went to 3-2 we handled it well and saw the game out well to put another three points on the board.
“For me it is all about gaining experience; you don’t really get people loading the box like that in under-21s football! It’s more predictable and about playing possession football, but I am here to learn and playing in games like that is the best experience you can have. Playing in men’s football, being competitive in every game, is what I love, and what I want to get as much experience as possible of.”
A change of Manager is just another new experience for the 20-year-old to deal with:
“You just get on with it. It’s football and people move on all the time. I don’t think anything changes for the players. We all just want to work hard on the training pitches every day, no matter who is taking the sessions. It has been really good with Shorty, everyone has great respect for him and we’re buzzing to get the three points for him on Saturday. We will just wait and see who comes in now.”
United have a free weekend due to the international break and you might expect Stan to be looking forward to a rest. Far from it…
“I would play every day if I could,” he said. “But I do know that I’ve not really played Saturday/Tuesday too much, so recovery becomes vital. The facilities and staff are great for that, so that side of things has been quite easy to cope with. I’m really enjoying my football and it’s going well. Everton have been a few times and always keep in touch and they are happy with how it’s going. I feel fully settled here and know my role in the team and where I need to be. Plus, I’ve got the relationship with my teammates and we get on well.
“We are in a good position but we are not looking too far ahead, it’s just game by game at the moment and just keep churning out those three points. If we do that then we know we will be up there.”
See the full interview in iFollow.