OXFORD United's three Christmas holiday matches are their most important three games of the season.

That's the assessment of manager Darren Patterson as he saw his team get their performance level, if not the result, back on track at the weekend.

Although the U's lost 1-0 at Aldershot in the fourth round of the Setanta Shield, it was a much better showing, and a timely improvement ahead of the crunch Boxing Day match against Crawley Town at the Kassam Stadium.

In the space of eight days over the festive period, United face Crawley twice - home and away - and also take on Kidderminster at home, when they will be looking for their first double of the campaign.

Patterson said: "They're the three most important games of the season so far, in my opinion. They're massive, especially the two at home.

"The Ebbsfleet game at home I was disappointed not to win . . . we really, really need to be winning our home games consistently. That will be a big part of whether we're going to make a proper attempt at the play-offs or not.

"It's so important to win your home games. On Boxing Day, I'm sure the crowd will be behind us, and there's no reason why we can't get back to winning ways."

United ended up crashing out of the FA Trophy and Setanta Shield at the first attempt.

"The two cups have gone now - as far as I'm concerned, our season starts on Boxing Day."

United fans are just hoping to see a goal. The defeat at the Recreation Ground on Saturday means the U's have now gone 561 minutes since finding the net. In that time, Aldershot have scored 21 times!

But Oxford at least pushed the Blue Square Premier leaders all the way, and went very close to forcing extra time.

Patterson said: "It summed it up at the end when we got in a good shot and our own player blocked it on the line.

"But we can't get down-hearted. If we continue in that vein - commitment and togetherness - we'll be all right."

Patterson added that no clubs had contacted him about any of his players, apart from James Clarke and Luke Foster - which was why United put them on longer contracts!