Striker Rob Duffy says Oxford United are unlikely to get off to the same sort of flier as last season - but they hope to finish on a high this time with a ticket back to the Football League.

Lessons have been learned from their first season in the Conference, and the most basic one, says Duffy, who finished as last year's 21-goal top scorer, is that you can't have a two-month spell in the middle without winning a match.

The U's, who for the first three months of last season looked such a strong bet for automatic promotion, ended up suffering heartbreak in the play-offs with a dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat against Exeter City in the semi-final second leg at the Kassam Stadium.

"The only way to gain promotion if you don't want to be drawn into the lottery of the play-offs, is to win the league," says Duffy.

"If you look at last season, we went the first 22 games without defeat. You hear the fans and read the paper and everyone was getting carried away.

"For whatever reason, we hit a brick wall and we couldn't buy a win for those 12 games in December and January.

"You can't go on a 12-game winless run - in any league - and expect to win it. Even with the start we'd had.

"We were playing catch-up, and when we did start winning, we were winning with the belief that Dagenham were going to drop points, but they kept winning. They don't play attacking football but they played winning football and we couldn't catch them.

"Looking at the fixture list for this season, I don't think anyone will have the start that we had last season. You've got Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Saturdays and Mondays and all sorts in there - 17 games before November."

The extra competition for places up front at Oxford United this season means that all the strikers will have to be on their toes, both to get into the team, and then to keep their place.

Along with Duffy, Jim Smith can call on Yemi Odubade, new signings Gary Twigg and Joel Ledgister, and Marvin Robinson.

"It can be any two from five," Duffy admitted. "It all depends whether the manager wants to go with two up front or three up front, but whoever it's going to be, it's up to all of us to work hard and prove to the gaffer, and Darren (Patterson), that we're worthy of a place.

"Obviously, I want to be playing. I played every game last pre-season, I was scoring before the season started and I took that into the season - and I didn't look back really.

"So I want to get into that groove of playing games, playing 90 minutes, and scoring, as quickly as I can."

The 24-year-old striker seemed to go through purple patches of goals in 2006-7.

He struck four in the first four games, including both in the 2-1 win at Burton Albion, then seven in four games between September 23 and October 6, including a hat-trick in the 5-1 vicory at Forest Green Rovers.

He then hit another four in four games at the start of the year, when Oxford were desperately looking to return to winning ways, and that included a brace in the 2-2 draw at Grays.

Always, though, Duffy had the millstone around his neck that a large chunk of his goals were coming from the penalty spot.

He was proving a master of the spot kick, so perhaps an equally valid question would be - where would United have been without Duffy's penalties?

The Welshman felt the pain of the play-off semi-final exit more than most, because he missed a great chance to score late on in the second leg at the Kassam Stadium before it got to spot kicks - something for which he had the courage to apologise to the fans.

Yet in the shoot-out, predictably, he was on target.

This season he is hoping for a happier ending. Though at the moment, all the players are concerned about is the beginning.

"Obviously we're looking to hopefully get off to the same sort of start as last season but that's asking a lot.

"A good start will be important and we'll just see where we go.