AFTER Saturday's trip to Scunthorpe United we will have played 16 league games and more than a third of our season will have gone.

Although we would always like more, we have to be satisfied with our league position and it was a great performance on Tuesday night against an impressive side like Oxford.

We were disappointed not to win but we had to be happy with the level of our performance.

It was another match where we remained unbeaten at home and it is quite evident we are increasingly a difficult team to beat at Bootham Crescent.

We have lost just once on home soil this season and I can only recall losing a handful of league games at Bootham Crescent in recent seasons.

Any successful team needs to be strong at home and we are. Away from home, I have to admit our form has not been at its best.

Strangely enough, in many ways it should be easier to win away because the onus is not on you, the pressure and expectations are not as great.

Any sort of result away from home is seen as a good result and that is something our young players are having to learn.

I believe we have been a bit naive, a bit gung-ho on our travels and we have tried to win a game early on.

I keep saying it is a big learning curve and I think we are learning we have to be a bit more patient away from home.

We must learn to quieten and frustrate the crowd and be prepared to have our spell in the game from there.

It is something we will be looking to take forward into Saturday's game at Glanford Park, especially on the back of a very confident performance.

I know what the players are capable of and on Tuesday they looked like they are starting to believe it themselves.

Everyone was right on their game, the work ethic was tremendous and everyone wanted the ball.

The way we came back from conceding an early goal was also very pleasing and commendable.

Of course, on the back of such a high it will be tempting to start with a real bang at Scunthorpe.

But it is a fine line between starting confidently and purposefully and being gung-ho and throwing caution to the wind against the Iron.

We will have to start well, you want to start every game well, but we will have to show a bit more patience away from home and be prepared to stick to our game plan.

Even after a going a goal down on Tuesday we stuck to our game plan and it worked well.

Helping matters is the fact we have virtually a full strength squad from which to select. Only Christian Fox and Steve Downes are sidelined.

Having the likes of Jon Parkin and Chris Smith back and playing is a massive boon and it keeps everyone else in the squad on their toes.

Saturday sees an important date in the football calendar with the draw for the first round of the FA Cup.

All we can hope for is for a home draw, especially given the fact we have two successive away games in the league before the first round kicks-off.

The FA Cup is special to every player and it tends to favour the underdogs so hopefully it will shine favourably on us.

Getting to the fourth round and playing a team like Fulham two seasons ago was a special occasion and it would be great for the younger players to have that chance again to test themselves against Premiership players.

All we can do is trust the balls to do us a favour and give us a first round tie at Bootham Crescent. Given our home form we would be confident of beating any team.

Updated: 09:49 Thursday, October 23, 2003