JOHNNY Mullins has urged Oxford United’s younger players to savour the side’s highlights this season as they prepare for yet another big game this weekend.

Michael Appleton’s men host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round in front of another sell-out crowd.

This month has already seen them beat Premier League side Swansea City, in the third round, plus win 2-0 at Millwall, who visit next Tuesday for their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area final second leg.

Cup progress has come alongside victories at Notts County and Portsmouth, which have kept them in Sky Bet League Two’s automatic promotion places.

These are heady days, even for a player like Mullins, with more than 450 career appearances under his belt.

“It’s unbelievable, I’ve never known it like this,” he said.

“When I got promoted with Rotherham (in 2013) we did it late on, enjoyed it and then it was done.

“There is one big day after another and there’s the potential to have more of them.

“My only message to the younger players would be enjoy it, because it doesn’t come around often.

“We’ve got players who can go to a higher level and if they keep performing as they have been they will do.

“But for the older statesmen it’s very enjoyable.”

January was seen as a make-or-break month for the U’s, given the succession of crunch games on three fronts.

So far they have won four games out of five, with the 2-1 home league defeat to Bristol Rovers the only blot on the copybook.

Mullins is delighted with the way the side have embraced the challenge – and sees no reason why they should stop now.

He said: “We knew it would be difficult, but if we want to achieve what we want you have to win big games.

“We’ve put ourselves in a situation where we’ve got a hell of a chance of achieving what we want.

“Saturday is a bonus, but if we perform like we can I fully believe we can win.

“We are performing now on the big stages, like we did at Portsmouth and another full crowd against Blackburn would be lovely.”

The win at Portsmouth on Saturday opened a four-point gap on fourth-placed Bristol Rovers.

The Pirates are in league action at Accrington Stanley on Saturday, but even a win would not dislodge United.

Mullins said: “You’ve got to win those games in hand, but it’s nice to know that we can’t be caught at the weekend.”