KARL Robinson cannot wait for Oxford United to return to a sold-out Kassam Stadium tomorrow.

More than 11,500 fans will be at Grenoble Road for the visit of promotion rivals Sunderland as the U’s attempt to reignite their play-off push.

It is the first sold-out Sky Bet League One match at the Kassam Stadium since United lost 1-0 to Northampton Town on Boxing Day 2016, excluding last season’s games with reduced capacity.

The U’s have become accustomed to five-figure home crowds, with six of the last seven fixtures at Grenoble Road attracting more than 10,000 fans.

READ MORE: Oxford United fans sell-out Sunderland clash

The club have a complicated relationship with the ground owned by former chairman Firoz Kassam, but supporters are packing it out more regularly than ever.

“I’m excited more than anything else,” U’s head coach Robinson said.

“We’ve got fans starting to come back and I bet if we moved to a new ground there would be a lot more that wanted to come back.

“Because of how we entertain, but just as much in how we care, that has a big part to play for the fans.

“Sunderland coming to town is important because they fill their bit, we’ve filled our bit for the last seven games.

“We’re used to the Kassam being full, but there’s something about this place that is home.

“We’ve made it that, because of the people.”

United have claimed some big results in front of bumper home crowds this season and they must rise to the occasion again tomorrow.

Defeats at Plymouth Argyle and Morecambe in the last six days have left the U’s eighth in League One, a point and a place below Sunderland, who have a game in hand.

United lacked ruthlessness in front of goal in both losses, as well as the 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town in the previous match.

Robinson knows it is an area his side must improve, even though they remain the highest scorers in League One.

He said: "We score goals, we’re that type of team that has that in us, we have players in big areas that we know can create an opportunity to score.

"Some of our finishing of late has not been to the level that we expect so far this season.

"We’ve had big moments of big games where we haven’t taken opportunities.

"We had two or three against Plymouth that we didn’t take and then another 15 on Tuesday."