OXFORD United are determined to finish their season with a flourish, says Sam Long.

The U’s host Doncaster Rovers tomorrow with the Sky Bet League One play-off places agonisingly out of reach following last weekend’s defeat at Rotherham United.

United cannot end the season higher than eighth, but they could fall to ninth if they slip up and Portsmouth beat Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

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Table position does not mean much to the U’s at this stage, but Long believes it is important to add three points to their tally on the final day of the season.

The right back said: “We’re all professionals and we all want to win.

“We want to finish on a high, I think that’s been important in the last few years where we finish on a high and take that momentum into next season.

“We want to give the fans something to cheer on the last day of the season.

“We want to get a performance and a win and finish on the highest points tally we possibly can.

“There’s definitely still motivation to win the game and put in as good a performance as if we did have something to play for.”

Doncaster are not yet mathematically relegated, but need a 28-goal swing on the final day to stay up.

Nevertheless, Long does not expect the South Yorkshire side to go down without a fight.

He said: “They’re going to want to come and win just as much as we are.

“They’re fighting for their careers so they’re going to want to impress.

“We’ll need to be as ready as ever and have the game-plan to win.”

Victory at the Kassam Stadium would take United to 78 points, enough to finish in the play-offs in each of the last 11 seasons.

In fact, that tally would have seen them place fourth this time last year.

The U’s have spent large chunks of the season in the play-off positions, but dropped out at the start of April and never recovered.

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Three wins in eight games have come at a time when their rivals have been relentlessly consistent, with one team set to miss out on the top six with at least 80 points.

That included three defeats in the space of a week against Plymouth Argyle, Morecambe and Sunderland – all matches where they did enough to win.

Long feels it is too simple to blame those seven days on United falling short, though.

The 27-year-old said: “The obvious one is the week we lost three in a row but you can never say that, because they were three good performances.

“You’d probably play them again the same way and get three different results.

“It’s difficult to say because the Football League season throws up so many twists and turns and ultimately they’ll probably be games this year we’ve won that we probably didn’t deserve to.

“I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint one specific thing that cost our season.”

United players were distraught after the season-ending defeat at Rotherham.

But goalkeeper Jack Stevens is confident his teammates will be in the right frame of mind against Doncaster as they aim to take some momentum into the next campaign.

He said: “The target’s to get three points from the next game and improve on last year’s tally.

“It’s all we’ve got left to play for.

“We will pick each other up, everyone’s good lads in there.

“We’ll dust ourselves down, try to finish strong and regroup and go again next season.”