WHILE the last few weeks have been tough for everyone, I’m still working hard to keep spirits up.

The backing I have had from family and friends has been crucial.

I have two boys who just want their dad – it doesn’t matter to them whether I’m a football manager, a painter and decorator, a builder or whatever.

To them, I’m just Dad and they want to play with me; they rely on me and I have very supportive wife and family around me.

It’s just one of those things that you have to get on with.

I believe that the way we are doing things is the right way.

We have to keep believing in what we are doing, keep the players’ spirits up as far as possible and keep working in training.

In the last couple of weeks, we have done a lot of work on our defending and tightened that up; we have not conceded as many goals or allowed as many chances as we were before.

Now we need to keep on doing that and add a bit more spice in the other areas.

The spirit in the club is good. We are all frustrated – players, staff, board members and fans; we do not go into games expecting to lose, we do as much homework as we can and prepare the team as best we can.

All you can do is pick a team on the basis of the players who are available to us.

We have had a number of injuries; some big players for us have been injured and those are the sort of things you have to live with but, for a club the size of ours, to lose two lads on international duty is crippling.

Dave Cornell is a young keeper who has come in and been exceptional. He has a very bright future and it’s only to be expected that he will be involved in the Wales set-up.

Delroy Facey is off with the Grenada squad and to have two away is not something you expect at this level.

If you lose two players from a squad of 16 then it’s more than 10% of your squad.

If that happened at Premier League level then there is no way that they would be playing the game.

We do have one player who has come in, Nathan Elder, who is making his way back in the game from two horror injuries. He smashed his eye socket at Brentford and then did his cruciate ligament while he was at Shrewsbury.

He is a great lad – he lost a little of his bravery and his pace with the injuries but we have watched him in games and he is very fit, he has put himself about and got himself into the box, worked very hard and is a good influence around the dressing room.

On the pitch he talks and encourages and is desperate to do well and get back into football.

He is grabbing this opportunity with both hands because he probably feels it may be his last.

On Saturday, I don’t think there was much in the game.

Neither team produced too much.

Oxford are a side who expect to get promoted this year and we contained them for the majority of the game without really looking too threatening ourselves.

But we have to keep working at it; it is no good sulking, we have to look at solutions.

It is very easy to sit and be critical – we know what is wrong we just have to find the answers and that is what we are trying to do all the time.