IT’S been quite a start to the new season, and I’d like to begin this week’s column by extending my gratitude to our supporters.

They were brilliant against Crawley last weekend, very vocal right from the start, but then took it to another level at Brentford on Tuesday evening.

Of course, the players gave them plenty to shout about, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening all round.

It’s nights like Tuesday that make us all love this crazy game so much, and for a brief moment on Wednesday morning, it felt like our result was the biggest news story in English football.

I certainly can’t remember seeing a picture of Danny Hylton on the front page of The Sun’s ‘Goals’ pull out in the recent past!

The 4-0 victory means we’ve taken a draw and a win from our first two games, and I’m happy.

We’ve hit the ground running, but it is just the start, and the games are going to come thick and fast now.

Like I’ve said before, you don’t win promotion in the first eight to ten games, but you can certainly make it very difficult for yourself, and I’ll be reasonably content if we’re within striking distance of the top six come the end of September.

We have integrated quite a few players into the team this season and it takes time for people to gel.

Against Crawley last Saturday things didn’t quite come together as I’d hoped. We didn’t use the ball as well as I would have liked at times, though that’s not to say we didn’t play some good stuff.

The first game of a new season is always difficult, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, as a player, you’ve been waiting for it for the best part of two months and the adrenalin is really pumping. You’re so eager, that sometimes you can make decisions you otherwise wouldn’t if it were a regular game.

Then there’s the fact that you really don’t want to lose it – which was clearly the way Crawley felt.

For large parts of the game they were happy to sit back and get ten men behind the ball, and it can be incredibly hard to break teams down when they ‘park the bus’.

They caught us with a bit of a sucker-punch to go ahead, but the way we reacted really pleased me.

We didn’t panic, kept plugging away and were back on level terms within eight minutes of going behind.

The goal was a real cracker too.

Danny Hylton finished brilliantly, but for me the pass from Danny Rose really made it, and I’ve been really impressed with him over the past few months.

Like me, Danny Rose came up through the ranks at Manchester United.

He’s played with some top-drawer players, and I just feel he gives us something a little bit different.

Not only can he drop a ball on a sixpence from 40 yards plus, but he has great awareness and touch, and there’s a real guile to his play.

As with all of the players, it’s about being consistent, and Danny needs to keep performing to the best of his abilities week in, week out.

Tuesday at Brentford was obviously a night to remember, but we can’t dwell on it.

There certainly seems to be something about Oxford United and the League Cup though.

What pleased me most about the game was the way we came out of the traps and really took the game to them.

We were three goals to the good inside 12 minutes but didn’t take our foot off the pedal, added a fourth early in the second half, and really could have scored more.

Looking ahead to today’s game, we’re away at Luton Town, another strong side, and one I really want to put one over on to be honest.

Like us, Luton have started with a draw and win – on Tuesday they put a very capable Bristol City side to the sword, so their tails will be up.

In the fixture at Kenilworth Road last year we really didn’t do ourselves justice.

We went a goal down after just two minutes and never recovered, and at the time, were struggling a bit at the back.

At the start of last season we were shipping far too many goals but things are different now – we’re much more watertight.

That defensive solidarity has been the bedrock for our recent success, both at the end of last season, and the start of this.

We just need to keep it going.