Brannagan says Oxford's players need to find belief

Oxford United skipper Cameron Brannagan says its up to the players to "find the belief" to get themselves out of trouble this season.

Oxford, still without a permanent manager after Gary Rowett's dismissal just before Christmas, have a short break from their Championship relegation battle as they take on League Two promotion challengers MK Dons in the FA Cup third round on Friday (19:30 GMT).

But Brannagan has said the squad are treating the cup fixture like a league game to help inject more energy and confidence in their league campaign.

"The big thing is belief, and knowing we can do it, because we've done it against some of the top teams, like Ipswich and Southampton," Brannagan told BBC Radio Oxford, regarding the survival battle.

The midfielder is set to return to action on Friday after missing the last nine matches because of a muscle injury sustained in the 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough in November.

"They've [MK Dons] got a great group of players, they're obviously doing well in League Two," he added.

"It'll be a very tough game. We need to go in there with the mindset of doing the right things, and making sure the simple stuff is right.

"I want to treat this as a league game, we play to win. Its a big game, its a cup game. We want to go to the next round. We should be able to play with freedom."

Brannagan, 29, signed from Premier League side Liverpool in 2018, and enjoyed five years of stability under manager Karl Robinson.

Since Robinson was sacked in February 2023, the U's have had three permanent managers and undergone three interim spells under Craig Short.

"Football has changed. People come and go, its part of the game. As players, we're very together as a group," Brannagan added.

"We've spoke internally and its something now that we want to improve, performances and results.

"We want to get ourselves into a better position than we are already in. We know what we have to do, and hopefully we can start to pick up wins now."

Oxford assistant head coach Craig Short has confirmed he will take charge of the tie at Stadium MK.

The search for a replacement for Rowett will continue into next week, and skipper Brannagan says he'll be giving Short all his support.

"Shorty is fantastic, we've known him a long time," he added. "We respect him and care about him deeply, like we do all the staff here."