JOHNNY Mullins says memories of last season’s terrific win at Portsmouth will be in his mind as Oxford United attempt to pull off a repeat this afternoon.

The U’s impressively won 4-1 at Fratton Park on the opening day of last season, roared on by more than 2,500 travelling fans.

Mullins is one of half a dozen survivors from the squad who could feature for United this afternoon.

And the centre back cannot wait to step back out on the pitch.

“It’s a great place to play,” he said.

“It’s a big stadium for this level and the players who were here last year have very good memories of that ground and hopefully we can go there and do it again.

“It was just a good day, we went behind, but the crowd were brilliant.

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“The best thing for us was laying a marker down and it would be nice if we could lay a similar one this time.”

United eased the pressure on themselves slightly with a 3-0 win against Mansfield Town last weekend.

But they are not out of danger from the scrap at the bottom and if results do not go their way today the six-point cushion over the relegation zone would be halved.

Mullins stressed while the win over the Stags helped with confidence levels, their mentality is unchanged.

He said: “Last week there was a real determination about us going up against Mansfield and winning.

“This week has been exactly the same apart from coming off a 3-0 win, so it’s slightly more buoyant, but there’s a job to be done.

“The gaffer spoke about getting the basics right and the rest will take care of itself.

“We can’t approach any game in a different frame of mind than we did against Mansfield.”

United can have no excuses over their preparation for the game.

They spent three days training at Bisham Abbey’s National Sports Centre and also stayed down on the south coast last night.

Mullins felt it had been a valuable exercise, but acknowledged it would only be useful if they can get a positive result today.

He said: “As good as the week has been, we’ve got to back it up against Portsmouth to show this has been a worthwhile trip by getting the three points.”