Oxford United may need a barnstorming end-of-season run to reach the npower League Two play-offs.

But they have given themselves a chance, and the players’ confidence is rising.

That’s the view of coach Andy Melville, who says he can see how the players’ self-belief has grown with their back-to-back wins over Crewe and Burton.

Sunday’s 3-0 success over Bur-ton has inched the U’s closer to the leading pack, but there are so many clubs chasing a play-off place that only those who finish the season very strongly will probably claim the prize.

“It’s all about who goes on the runs,” said Melville. “Stevenage have won five on the bounce and, if we get in and around that, we’ll have a chance.

“We’ve won two on the bounce and we’ve just got to keep that going as long as we can.”

With James Constable outstanding, Steve MacLean hitting two and the defence keeping a clean sheet, United again looked the business against Burton.

Melville added: “We wanted to play at a high tempo and they were very stop-start, which made it a bit difficult for us. But we showed good character.

“I think we saw a bit of confidence coming back last week and you could see it again on Sunday.

“In the second half, we passed the ball well. There were some good individual performances but we looked a strong unit defensively.”

To finish in the top seven will still take something special by Oxford, because four of their remaining seven games are against leading clubs Chester-field, Wycombe, Bury and Shrewsbury.

The U’s must also visit Accrington. Yet momentum can be hard to halt, and United’s players feel they are on a roll.

Striker MacLean said after his brace against the Brewers: “We’ve got seven games left, let’s see if we can get seven wins.”

Some of United’s promotion rivals are in action this midweek.

Tonight, Rotherham take on Shrewsbury and Port Vale face Lincoln, while tomorrow, Accrington play Hereford.