Ross Jenkins has said that the break in fixtures was largely a positive, despite still being without a number of key personnel.

The relentless nature of the Vanarama National League has affected Oxford City more than other teams in the division it seems, with the Hoops losing a number of players to injury throughout a hectic period.

However, ahead of this weekend’s clash with Woking, Jenkins has admitted that it was nice to focus on his own side for a change and get back onto the training pitch.

“The break has and both hasn’t been useful.” Jenkins admitted.

“We’ve had some good training time and that’s been valuable.

“We’ve tried to get some more boys back from injury, but that’s been quite slow. So, that’s probably the most disappointing factor of the break in not getting as many bodies back as we would’ve liked.

“But, in terms of having the free week, I think we needed to train.

“I think we needed to get back onto the training pitch and do some work because, it [the fixtures] were relentless at one point.

“We were doing Saturday, Tuesday fixtures every week and Thursday [the first team’s other training session] as a recovery day. So we weren’t actually doing too much work with the boys.

“So it’s been nice to have a few more training sessions and try and get one or two bodies back.

“It’s been nice to reflect and do some work on ouselves, but in terms of injuries we’ve got to keep plugging away and going.

“We’re not going to rush anyone back as we don’t want reccuring injuries.”

Woking are the visitors to the RAW Charging Stadium on Saturday, and like City were knocked out of the FA Cup to lower league opposition.

Darren Sarll’s team haven’t lived up to the expectations they set themselves last season, as Woking reached the play-offs on the coattails of the runaway top two Wrexham & Notts County.

However, despite their undoubted quality, Jenkins says that his squad need to focus on themselves going into the contest.

“They’ve got some really experienced players, and players who have played at higher levels. Players that have been at this level for a long time.” He said.

“But, we’re always going to be fighting against these types of teams and that’s something we can’t control.

“But what we can control is the work we do this week to try and affect Woking.

“We know we can’t compete with some of the club’s budgets, attendances and experience in the squad. We know that.

“But we have to control the things we know we can control, and that’s playing a good brand of football that we know can affect the opposition.

“I believe we’ve put on some really good footballing displays so far this season.

“We’ve got to keep the faith, we’ve got to keep the ‘why’ when we’re doing things, because we’ve got a group of players that can play a certain style of football and we’ve got to stick with that.

“We’ve got to take our chances most definitely, and defend our box a little bit better.

“It’s not always black and white, but in that instance, we need to do exactly that, and that’s what we’re going to try and achieve.”

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