OXFORD United’s good form makes it extra important they keep the hammer down at Burton Albion today, says Marcus McGuane.

The U’s will look to secure their fourth straight win against Sky Bet League One’s bottom side, who will be watched from the stands by new manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

United ended 2020 with a seven-match unbeaten run, but McGuane knows that will soon be forgotten if they cannot extend it into 2021.

The midfielder said: “Everyone knows what football’s like.

“One game everybody can be loving you, but a couple of bad results and things can change.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the league, you need to be on it.

“We never get too confident.

“We always have a clear game plan and all of the coaching staff can highlight a team’s weaknesses.

“When you’re on a run like this you have to stay on top of things, because one bad result can change everything.”

Karl Robinson: Burton Albion can hurt Oxford United

The 21-year-old has played a key role in United’s upturn in form, impressing in the advanced central midfield role.

It has seen Karl Robinson’s side climb to 15th in the table, six points above the relegation zone, and they could even end the day in the top half if results go their way.

This is partly due to Covid forcing the postponement of four matches as of yesterday, with United’s home clash with Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday also called off.

It means the U’s next game after today is the Papa Johns Trophy third round tie against Cambridge United on January 12 and McGuane called for one big push from his teammates.

He said: “It’s ten days without a game, so there are no excuses.

“We’ve got to leave everything on the pitch, because we’ve got a long break.”

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Robinson has already insisted Burton are better than their position suggests as he seeks to prevent complacency creeping in.

That will not be a problem for right back Sam Long, who is not taking anything for granted against a side who have won just two of their 21 league games.

He said: “We’re on a good run, but we just need to take it game-by-game.

“We’ve put together a string of results and it makes the table look a bit better.

“We know we’ve not done enough in the first half of the season – we’ve improved, but we need to keep improving.

“We’re not going to think we’ve cracked it, because we haven’t.

“This year’s been pretty bad, but I think we’ve started to turn our season around.”