IT has been another really positive week for us and the perfect tonic after a disappointing defeat at home to Fleetwood last Saturday.

I stand by what I said after that game – a clever foul enabled Ched Evans to score the first goal and that changed the game completely.

They only had two shots on target other than that, and one was the penalty that made it 2-0.

I hate losing – REALLY hate it – but I can see players having to get fit through playing games and that is going to take what is perhaps the most precious commodity in football – time.

You also need a bit of fortune, but we have had Samir Carruthers go off after 20 minutes in the first game and then Simon Eastwood suffer a freak injury in the warm-up last week.

Hopefully we have used up all our bad luck already.

We felt it was right to change things around on Tuesday and the response was fantastic.

It was a night of firsts.

Marcus Browne and Gavin Whyte scored their first goals on their first starts, Cameron Norman looked excellent on his debut and Shandon Baptiste was my man of the match in his first game at the Kassam.

Add in Jonathan Mitchell looking so assured in goal despite never having so much as trained with us, and it was a really encouraging night.

To top it all off, Fabio Lopes came on late in the game and was, I believe, the third youngest player ever to play for the club.

The record-holder, Graham Atkinson went on to become the club’s top scorer, so he is in good company!

Fabio takes it all in his stride and has a very bright future, but it is all about building for the future of the whole club.

The academy are doing very well and there are some great players at every level in the club.

Hopefully the fans get to see them coming through and into the team over the next few years.

I will always give youth a chance – my record shows that – and nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing a local youngster seizing his chance.

The lads who came into the side have certainly given me food for thought in terms of who plays against Portsmouth at Fratton Park today.

But whoever gets the nod, we know that our fans will be cheering them on at one of those great old grounds that have such history and atmosphere.

WE have been training over at Thame United for the last couple of days.

What a great set-up they have there and we thank them for using the facilities while the finishing touches are happening at the training ground.

It is so important we work alongside our local teams.

We already have a great relationship with Oxford City and seeing the people behind the scenes at Thame just reminded me how many people work at the other local clubs purely for the love of the game.

Oxford United is the county’s one Football League club.

But like I said when we visited the university last weekend, we have an unbelievable opportunity here to bring everyone together and have a successful team that is the pride of the whole county.