OXFORD United mustn’t prioritise games in terms of their perceived importance, says head coach Gary Rowett.
The U’s battled to a hard-earned 1-1 draw at Norwich City on Friday night, with attention then turning to the trip to Hull City tomorrow evening.
United are two points clear of the Tigers going into the final 10 matches of the season, and it would therefore be easy to mark it as more important due to the small gap between the two teams.
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Rowett though says the U’s mustn’t fall into a trap of sorting their remaining fixtures by any levels of significance.
He said: “It has to be the same mindset for us. It has to be because whether you’re playing Norwich away or Hull away, or Watford at home, you have an opponent desperate to try and win the game.
“This division is full of good players and full of players that on their day can perform to a very high level, and we have to make sure that our players do that, and we try to nullify the opposition.
“I don’t think Hull have been in anywhere near as poor form as they were at the start of the season.
“They’ve definitely picked up their performances, and it’ll be a good challenge for us when you’re a team that has won one away game in 18.
“I don’t think you can look at any opponent and feel like there’s any sense of complacency for any reason.
“We recognise where we are and we recognise what we’ve got to do, and it’ll be another good game for us.”
Rowett added: “Every game is an opportunity to go and get three points. That’s every game for every team, not just us.
“Every game is the same mindset and the same mentality. I think that’s the challenge for any head coach in this division, is to try and get your players to take on every game in the same way.
“At Norwich, it felt as though we had a little bit more desperation about our play and a little bit more desire to run and close down because we knew the importance of getting something out of the fixture.
“We have to make sure we match that, and do exactly the same away at Hull. If we do, we’ll have a very good chance of getting a positive result, but anything less than that, and you’ll have a very good opportunity of not getting anything out of the game.”