WE have another big day this afternoon as we head for Rotherham United in the FA Cup.

We travel in hope and full of confidence, but remain very much the underdogs against a Championship side who have a squad packed with good players.

The league table will not make comfortable reading for Rotherham at the moment.

But look at the wider picture and we are still 12 places below them in the overall standings, so we know the size of the task ahead of us.

Mind you, we were much further behind Swansea in those standings last season and look what happened then!

The lads had a bit of time off earlier in the week, which was fully deserved after playing two games in 48 hours, but have come back looking very sharp in training.

I thought we did very well at Gillingham on Monday and deserved the win and it just gives everyone that little extra spring in their step.

That is two away wins on the bounce, the first at Bury, and we have done very well on the road since that defeat at Shrewsbury back in November.

It counts for very little today, though, because this is the FA Cup and you can throw the league and form tables out of the window.

Rotherham boss Paul Warne will have his players psyched up for this one, because it might just kick-start their season.

Beat us today, get a big draw in the next round, and suddenly things start clicking into place for them.

The flip side of that is we can go there knowing we are a good side ourselves and playing well.

What have we got to lose?

It sets everything up perfectly and it looks like we will be backed by another huge away following this afternoon.

All I could hear at Gillingham was our fans away to my right, singing throughout the game.

It is remarkable how many people follow us on the road and they create a brilliant atmosphere.

People were telling me after the game that Oxford were the best fans they had seen all season, and I had to agree with them.

Hopefully we can share some memorable celebrations again today.

It is a good ground for atmosphere, so we know we will have great backing, and our job is to make sure those fans come back down the motorway still dreaming about who we might draw in the next round.

THIS week saw the transfer window open again and fans will have seen us extend Charlie Raglan’s loan until the end of the season, which we think is good business.

We had always reckoned on Rob Hall getting fit and being a player for the second half of the season and Liam Sercombe is making remarkable progress.

But I know fans want us to bring in new players as well.

There is no point setting timelines or making promises, but rest assured we have a first class recruitment team here in Craig Dean and Mark Thomas and have very specific targets for this window and the next.

If we can bring in players who we think will improve what we already have, then we will make it happen.