Ian Atkins saluted the spirit in the Oxford United camp after being presented with his Nationwide Manager of the Month award for December.

Twelve months on since last winning the accolade, the U's boss says that this time around he is much more confident that it will not be the only honour he will win this season.

United's FA Cup victory over Swindon 13 months ago helped Atkins to land the award in 2002, but a change in fortunes eventually saw the club narrowly miss out on a play-off place.

With the side now sitting pretty on top of Division 3, Atkins admitted he was much more optimistic about the future.

"It is very different from last time, because I am much more confident about things," he said.

"You look around at the players and at the backroom staff, and you can see the spirit and togetherness there - we didn't have that last year.

"We have still got a long way to go and there is absolutely no talk of promotion around the club, and that's because the players are so focused.

"They have all done unbelievably well so far, but now we just have to make sure we keep it going for the second half of the season."

Chris Hull, representing league sponsors Nationwide, said it was an award Atkins fully deserved.

"When we came to announce the award for the first month of the season, it was a toss-up between Oxford and Swansea," he said.

"Although Oxford had just beaten Swansea 3-0, we gave the award to Brian Flynn (Swansea manager) because of the club's turn-around over the course of the summer.

"It was a very close call, but the first person on the phone to quiz us about why Oxford didn't win it, was Ian himself - he gave us so much grief, I guess we had to give it him this time!

"But Ian fully deserves the award and what he has done to Oxford is just fantastic for everyone concerned."

Jack Taylor, referee in the 1974 World Cup final, and who now works for Nationwide, added: "Ian is a great bloke, and I hope he leads Oxford to promotion.

"Everyone knows what a terrific manager he is."