It may shock some people to see Crawley Town top of the table, but not Jamie Cook, the former Oxford United midfielder.

He turned down the chance to return to Oxford in the summer because he was offered a better deal by the Sussex club, and also because he felt Crawley would be flying high this term.

"I don't know about being surprised we're top, I'm certainly not," he said. "But we're not getting carried away either. We're doing all right and just enjoying it at the moment.

"We've got a good squad of players and have made some adjustments. We scored a lot of goals last season, but also conceded quite a few.

"We felt that, if we could tighten up, we would still continue to score, and that's what we've done. We've tightened up at the back, and the goals have kept coming."

Cook, who finished last season as Crawley's leading scorer with 16 goals, has got four this term – including the winner in last Saturday's 2-1 victory over Mansfield – and feels he would have had more, but for a stuttering start to the campaign.

"I was struggling for the first three or four games with a hip injury," he admitted. "But it's been sorted out."

Few at United need reminding of the quality Cook possesses. His left-footed crosses are of far higher quality than Conference level.

He scored when United won 2-0 at Manchester City a decade ago (there's a bit of difference in those two clubs' finances now!) and struck two goals in Crawley's 2-0 win over Oxford at Broadfield Stadium in January – one of them a brilliant 40-yard strike.

United had beaten Crawley 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium a week earlier, on Boxing Day, though.

Surely, Crawley are not really geared up for the Football League, are they?

"As players we're certainly not looking that far ahead, we're just pleased to be top at the moment and are taking it one game at a time," said Cook.

"We've got a good squad and a great team spirit, and we'll just do our best each game and see where it takes us."

Cook, who hails from Witney and played for Witney United just two years ago, says Oxford United still mean a lot to him.

"I grew up supporting them and hope they start improving," he said. "Reading the reports it seems they're doing OK, but have been a bit unlucky with suspensions and injuries.

"We're expecting a really tough game on Saturday and fully expect them to be up there at the end of the season."

So, was there interest in him from the U's three months ago?

"I spoke to a few clubs in the summer, but I felt the players the manager was bringing in were good, and felt we could have a really good season," he added.