Gary Rowett takes his Oxford United team to Lancashire on Saturday afternoon for his fourth game in charge of the U’s, coming up against Preston North End.
In his first three games in charge, the former Millwall manager has a 100% record, the latest being a New Year’s Day victory against his old side at The Den.
Heading north to Deepdale, it’s the second time the sides have faced each other this season following a 3-1 win at the Kassam for United in August.
As the team prepare for the game, Gary spoke about his opening weeks in charge, and the test at hand against Paul Heckingbottom’s side.
He said: “I've been really pleased with the togetherness; I think first and foremost you come in and all the staff are working incredibly hard.
“I think the quality of work that the staff have done so far has been really high and I’ve been really pleased with that and the diligence of the players to try and put into action what we've asked them to do.
“We've probably had three 30 minute sessions, all on the day before the game, all focusing on what we need to do. So, you're not talking about massive amounts of time, but I think all you can ask as a manager is that they try to action that as best they can and try to do the best they can.
“I think Preston are a much-improved outfit under Heckingbottom, who I know really well.
“We’ve managed to keep the same team for three games. I'd say the fourth one, we might just have to make one or two tweaks just to freshen it up and get us through this period.
“One thing I said to the players in the Millwall game was, we're not going there to take a backward step. And that's a big thing. That's a big difference.
“And it's the same with Preston. We're not going there to try and protect things. We're not going there to be cautious. We're going there to try and impact the game.”
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