Justin Merritt admits he has never known a week like it.

The Oxford City general manager was at an all-time low after his side were thumped 8-1 at home to AFC Fylde on Saturday.

A couple of sleepness nights and plenty of stick followed, but his side proved the doubters wrong with a 7-2 win at high-flying Boston United on Tuesday night.

“It was just unbelievable,” said Merritt, whose side host Gainsborough Trinity tomorrow.

“I can honestly say that it was one of the toughest weekends I have ever had in football in terms of the result, the stick I was getting, the phone calls – everything.

“A result like we had on Saturday does get to you, of course it does, and you can’t put it to bed just like that.

“But then we go to Boston on Tuesday and were absolutely superb and scored seven against a side who could have gone top and had only conceded seven goals so far this season.”

The City boss felt positive after his side arrived at Boston, but could not have predicted what would follow.

“The pitch was perfect, there was more than 1,000 people there and it was a great atmosphere,” he said.

“If you can’t get up for a game like that, you’ve got no chance – it was all set up for us to put in a good display.”

But just what did Merritt tell his players, who had been humiliated just four days earlier?

“I didn’t go on too much about Saturday, but instead focused on the players’ minds,” he explained.

“I got the squad together and asked them all whether they could take their game to the next level.

“Can they get to every ball first? Can they react quickest? Can they be a step ahead of the opposition?

“If all of them did those things better than the opposition, we would be fine. And they did.”

Another factor was Merritt deciding against making wholesale changes to his starting line-up.

“I could easily have dropped several players after Saturday, but that would be poor management,” he said.

“It would have been an easy thing to do, but also unfair.

“As a player, you want to be given the opportunity to put things right, so that’s what I decided to do.”

City led 3-1 at half-time, but the interval team talk did not go to plan.

“I was like Winston Churchill at half-time with the speech I gave,” he laughed.

“I told them we didn’t need to score again, but that we had to keep it tight.

“I was late out for the second half, and hadn’t even got to the dug-out and Boston scored. Clearly what I said then worked a treat.

“But it was a superb display and an incredible few days.”

Jose Lapoujade (hamstring) is a doubt after limping off in midweek.

TOMORROW’S SQUAD

Oxford City: from Scott, Arnau, Afolabi, Stonehouse, Pond, Lapoujade, Green, Rodriguez, Barcelos, Mullings, Yussuf, Del Alamo, Benjamin, Winters, Wilson, Brown, Santiago, Malone, Isaac, Hoban.

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