SAM Smith has credited Karl Robinson’s personal touch to help get his Oxford United career up and running in midweek.

The 20-year-old opened his goalscoring account with a neat finish in the Checkatrade Trophy victory against Fulham Under 21s.

It was Smith’s eighth appearance since joining the U’s on loan from Reading – and the goal from near the penalty spot came about thanks to a one-on-one session with Robinson.

“Recently I’ve been working a lot with the manager on the timing of my runs into the box,” he said.

“(Against Fulham) that paid off because I was more central and I got the goal.

“As a young striker you can sometimes do too much. I was coming out wide and being dragged out of the positions I should be in.

“I sat down with the gaffer and he showed me clips.

“He’s really worked with me on that and I just want to thank him because on Tuesday night I thought I was getting a lot more of the ball and a lot more opportunities.

“I’ve not really had that much in my career.

“That’s why when I was trying to pick a club to come on loan to, it was a big reason for me to come here because of the personal connection the manager had with me.

“He wants to help and develop your game.”

Getting off the mark for the season is always a weight off the shoulders of a striker, but even more so when it comes in a first loan move.

Smith, who is hoping it pushed his claims to start against Coventry City on Sunday, said: “It just gives you that extra confidence.

“Hopefully I can take that into the next couple of games and prove to people I can do what I’ve done in the past, which is score goals.”

Smith’s upbeat mood is matched across a squad who have now gone unbeaten in four games – United’s longest run without a defeat in 2018.

Three of those have been wins, but with the best results coming in cup competitions so far, Robinson’s side go into the weekend still third from bottom in Sky Bet League One.

Coventry are one of the sides the U’s are looking to leapfrog in the televised clash and Smith is upbeat they are moving in the right direction.

He said: “We’ve got so many new players and it’s quite a young squad that it just took us a while to know where we need to be and where to go when certain people have the ball.

“The more we play with each other the better the understanding is getting and the better we’ll become.

“When we look at the squad we know deep down we’re good enough to be up there with any team in this league.

“We’ve had a tough start, but the more we play the better we’ll become and we’ve just got to prove it now.”