WE welcome Cambridge United to the Kassam Stadium today after a mixed week.

It was a disappointing start to the week in the FA Cup tie with Braintree, especially after beginning strongly and scoring early in the first half.

We had numerous opportunities for a second goal that would have put the game to bed, but it wasn’t to be.

We let them back into the game and after going down to ten men, we couldn’t be too frustrated about having a replay next week.

Of course it’s a game we could have done without in what is already a tight playing schedule, but it’s the chance to finish the job and progress to the second round.

It is an added incentive that the next round has been drawn and Tuesday’s winners will face Forest Green Rovers, who sit top of the Conference.

It is an achievable task and, without getting too carried away, we would all relish the chance to face big opponents in the third round.

Wednesday night saw a much more satisfactory cup-tie with us securing our place in the next round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. First and foremost it was good to see some young players making their full debuts.

AJ George is a player who has come off the bench for us to do well a few times and Robbie Cundy put in a very strong performance on the night.

We finished the game with four young players on the pitch who have all progressed through the academy at Oxford United, with Josh Ashby and Sam Humphreys coming on as substitutes.

Seeing young talent beginning to compete for a place in the senior squad is one of the most pleasing aspects of working in football.

A big talking point of the night was how well we started both halves of the game, with the two goals coming in the first minute of each.

It was very pleasing that Patrick Hoban got on the scoresheet following his frustrations of missed chances on Sunday.

He reacted in the right way and made sure he wasn’t facing the same woes come the final whistle on Wednesday.

Alex MacDonald once again proved his worth with his second goal from his last three appearances.

His goalscoring ability was one of the reasons we brought him here and it is great to see him posing a goal threat.

We will come up against Dagenham & Redbridge again next week, but although they played a strong side this week, they did have some players on international duty so it is hard to gauge how they will set up against us in the league as there were three or four changes to the side that drew with Morecambe at the weekend.

The games have come in quick succession this week with us playing three times in six days and unsurprisingly we have picked up a lot of knocks and injuries.

Fortunately none are long-term.

The playing schedule of Sunday and Wednesday games have made the week more difficult as we have been left with just one day of preparation for today's game against Cambridge, with a day taken up with recovery from Wednesday.

It is a doubly difficult time to face Cambridge as they have appointed Shaun Derry as manager this week.

When a new manager is in place it means the players are looking to prove themselves and this is the first chance many of them will have to impress him, so they will be a dangerous side this afternoon.

Today is a great day to be at the Kassam Stadium as we enjoy Military Day.

There will be a lot of activity around the ground with a Fanzone, military equipment on show, turbo training and an assault course. 

The aim is to raise money for five leading military charities and I’m sure it will be another successful community day.