Peter Leven says that Oxford United’s trip to Morecambe tomorrow is almost like starting the season again.

The U’s have not been in action for a fortnight, and went into their mini-break on the back of a run of five straight defeats.

However, the United midfielder says that the two-week period without a match came at just the right time, and has enabled the squad to regroup – and they are now ready to go again.

“It’s been a good rest for us,” Leven said. “We worked really hard in the week and then had a weekend off so we have had a couple of days to spend with the family.”

Leven (pictured) took the opportunity to go back to his native Scotland, and says that having the time to get away from the doom and gloom of Un-ited’s run can only be a big positive.

“Because we have not won for the last four or five games, it’s good to get away from football for a little bit to come back refreshed, and that’s what we all are,” he said.

“We have been doing a lot of things on the training pitch and also a lot off it with the tactics board and getting some suggestions across as how to adapt to different things.

“I think it’s fair to say that our season starts Saturday.

“If we can get the three points, we can hopefully really push on at a busy time of the year.

“We started well and everyone will have a blip at some point in their season, but unfortunately ours has come over the space of five games – two of those, however, have been in the cup so at least it hasn’t all been in the league.

“But we are all determined to use the break to our advantage and end our little run at Morecambe.”