DARREN Patterson is hoping the confidence his Oxford United team got from their superb win at Halifax on Saturday will be carried on into Monday's game against Stevenage.

The U's took Halifax to the cleaners at the Shay with a 3-0 victory that brought them successive away wins for the first time this season.

And centre forward Justin Richards has had a big weight taken off his shoulders by getting off the mark at last, in his ninth game for United.

Richards scored Oxford's second goal with a deft flick with his heel from Matt Green's cross, and Patterson will now wait to see whether the two strikers will be fit enough to start against promotion-chasing Stevenage in today's testing clash at the Kassam Stadium.

The victory over Halifax was something Oxford had been threatening, and it lifted them three places in the Blue Square Premier table.

"We played very well," said Patterson.

"I was very pleased with the second half especially. We controlled the game and 3-0 didn't flatter us at all. We could have won the game by a lot more.

"We'd been threatening that kind of score for some time - consistently prod- ucing the performance, without getting the goals.

"Once the second one went in, the confidence of the lads in passing the ball - on a poor pitch - was excellent.

"Hopefully that will give us the confidence we need to go into our home match against Stevenage.

"We're so pleased for Justin. He hadn't scored, but he'd worked his socks off, and his link play was excellent, he was just missing the goals.

"Hopefully that's the starting block for him and he can start scoring regularly.

"I thought the first half we were quite fortunate because in the first 20 minutes Halifax were stronger, sharper all over the park really. But after that when we started raising our game, we played really well.

"To win away 3-0, and play some of the football we did in the second half, was excellent.

"The lads have shown a lot of character, and we'll be looking for that character again on Monday.

"It's a sterner task, in that we're at home, and we want a reaction from the lads from the last home result.

"Our team shape and discipline, especially in the second half, was excellent with the way we've pressed the ball and controlled the game was excellent, and we're looking to do that again on Monday. We're looking for a win against Stevenage."

United's manager said Richards didn't need to win over the supporters anyway, but his goal will still do him the world of good.

He said: "Usually a striker that doesn't score doesn't get on with the fans, but he's had an ovation from our fans every time he comes off because they see how hard the lad works and they see his quality in his link play is first class.

"You can see he's played higher than this.

"Hopefully he can chip in with a number of goals between now and the end of the season."