Oxford United defender Sam Long believes playing regular football will help him to establish himself as a first-team player at the club.
The right-back, who turned 25 earlier this week, looks set to make his fourth consecutive appearance this afternoon when the U’s visit Gillingham.
It will be the longest number of games the academy graduate has played in since the end of last season, something which has been helped by the departure of Chris Cadden.
And although Karl Robinson is looking to bring another full-back to the club, the defender looks to remain as his first choice.
Long told the Oxford Mail: “I thrived on it last year when I got a run in the team and my performances showed that.
“Hopefully I can do the same this year and show what I’m capable of again.
“A lot of players who are on the fringes say the same thing, that it is very difficult to come in for one game (before dropping out again).
“Credit to all the boys that have done that, we’ve given the manager a headache.”
The U’s travel to Gillingham without a win in 2020, but Robinson’s side beat the Kent club 3-0 when the two teams met earlier this season.
The U’s will be looking to continue their promotion push but the Gills’ are unbeaten in seven.
Long added: “It’s so important for us to keep the momentum going into the last few months of the season because we want to go up, but we want to go up automatically.
“The play-offs are the minimum we want and winning the majority of our games is so important to us.”
