THERE’S another long journey in store for our fans this afternoon when we head for Bradford.

It will be cold, it’s miles away and it’s at a time of the year when there’s not much money about because people are saving for Christmas.

And yet when we walk out of the tunnel this afternoon, I guarantee there will be a fantastic number of Oxford fans there, all singing their hearts out and getting right behind us.

The support this club gets is amazing as was perfectly illustrated at Forest Green on Tuesday night.

I think it was about minus three degrees – well it certainly felt something like that – and I looked across to our fans.

There they were, more than 500 of them, in an open stand with snow falling and still singing and cheering for their team throughout the 90 minutes.

It was a fantastic effort and I really want to thank everyone.

It really has played a massive part in our recent upturn in form.

As I said a few weeks back, it is easy to support your team when they are winning every week.

The test comes when your backs are against the wall and it seems as though luck and everything else is never going to go your way.

I don’t even think there was one specific moment when things turned.

I just think it was a case of everyone realising at the same moment that the only way forward was for the whole club to be exactly what it says in the name – United.

I am very proud of the closeness between the fans and the players.

It is great at the moment, but we want it to become something truly special.

I think that happens when teams win trophies and are competing at the top of the league.

Don’t look at recent results and think we have now settled for where we are.

We are on a decent run at the moment, but we are still nowhere near where we want to be in the league table.

We were becoming a little bit adrift, but we have stopped that happening and there are plenty of clubs looking over their shoulders at us now.

But once you start thinking you have made it, then you are in trouble!

We need to take small steps for now.

Let’s go to Bradford, give it our all, fans and players side by side, and see if we can keep this run going.

CAN I just say that the support we get from the Oxford Mail each week is outstanding.

But I want to thank them for something that many fans will not have realised.

David Pritchard is the Mail’s Oxford United reporter and right now he is away in Australia.

Since he left the country we have played two, won two and not conceded a goal.

I am not saying the two things are connected – but it was nice to see someone start a crowdfunding page to keep him on the other side of the world for a little while longer!