RECRUITING the right characters has been vital to Oxford United’s bright start to the season, according to Wayne Brown.

The U’s have taken many by surprise so far, picking up four points from games against Sky Bet League One promotion contenders Sunderland and Peterborough United.

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The latter return to the Kassam Stadium tonight in the Carabao Cup first round and Brown believes first and foremost the performances so far have been rooted in hard graft.

The goalkeeping coach said: “It’s getting the right players in with the right mentality – good guys who want to play for the club.

“The gaffer has put in a culture where the boys have to run their socks off for each other.

“It’s shown in everything we’ve done in the first two games.

“We’ve stripped it all back and said we want guys who want to work for each other. Hence the two decent performances.

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“If you haven’t got a team that doesn’t want to work hard you’re in massive trouble. Maybe that showed a little bit a few years ago under certain regimes.

“That’s the minimum we want from our boys, work your socks off.”

United came out on top in Saturday’s league meeting with the Posh, but Brown does not believe it will have much relevance tonight.

He said: “I don’t think the conditions helped. It will probably be a completely different game.”

While the U’s are planning changes, Simon Eastwood will keep his place in goal with Brown keen to see the goalkeeper find his rhythm at the start of the season.