Oxford United goalkeeper Billy Turley believes Darren Patterson's positive attitude will rub off on all the players.

Although the U's had a disappointing 0-0 draw against Ebbsfleet, Turley is adamant that once some injured players come back, United can go on a long unbeaten run.

And he says a lot of that will be down to the new manager.

"I'm not saying it was negative thoughts before, because I've got a lot of time for Jim Smith. I just think some of the players didn't have the mentality to handle him," Turley said.

"With Darren, it's all positive. We haven't had a negative thought for two weeks, training's been excellent - a bit of fun in there, but it's simple in terms of what he demands.

"He doesn't mind people making mistakes, but if they're making the same mistakes over and over again, that's when he'll come down on us like a ton of bricks.

"It's black and white, and he expects us to battle - that's the minimum that everyone should do every game. Then we'll hopefully get more confidence and the flowing football and goals will come."

And with a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel regarding United's injury list, Turley says the future is positive.

"The injury crisis is coming to a head now where we've got a few players coming back soon. And they've got some- thing to prove to the fans, and to the players who are here," he added.

"They've got to earn our respect now because they've been out a long time. We're hoping for a big response from them coming back.

"Obviously Christmas is an important time because you've got three or four games in a short period and we need all the players back firing.

"Hopefully we can go on a run then, because everyone knows we haven't played well this year. We haven't put three winning games together - that's not good enough for this club.

"Darren wants to put it right. He's a young Jose Mourinho - only looks-wise - and he's really determined.

"We have to kick on in the second half of the season where last year we faltered. Hopefully we can turn it around this year, start off slow and finish really, really well."

And Turley is hoping that United's poor run on Setanta will ensure that they do not feature on television before the end-of-season play-offs.

"The first six weeks of this season was ridiculous with the games we had," he said.

"Setanta's brilliant for this league, but some of their scheduling - Thursday, Sunday, Thursday - did us no favours at all, and hopefully we're not on there now until the play- offs."