Oxford wins have 'woken up' relegation rivals

Ben Purkiss believes Oxford United's winning run has woken up a few teams at the bottom of the Championship and says his old club must keep focus in the relegation battle.

Victory over Blackburn in midweek made it three wins on the bounce for Matt Bloomfield's side, who remain in the bottom three on goal difference, but now find themselves in the thick of the battle and with some momentum.

Charlton are the visitors to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday and former U's defender Purkiss said the size of the challenge facing Oxford in preserving their Championship status is shown by the fact they have taken nine points from three games and are still in the danger zone.

"The win against West Brom woke the teams up at the bottom, the win against Preston almost laid down the gauntlet for those teams at the bottom and now you see the teams at the bottom getting themselves into gear," he said.

"There are two stages – step one was getting yourself in amongst it and step two is getting yourself out of it. We've won three in a row and we are still in amongst it. That's almost the scale of the challenge."

A win over Charlton could lift Oxford out of the relegation places while bringing their opponents back into the fight, but Purkiss knows that while momentum is vital for the U's nothing has been achieved yet.

"I do think between now and the end of the season you are going to see a lot of results where you think 'how did they do that?'" he said.

"We've got momentum, or it feels like we have found a formula to get performances, and I think that is key," said Purkiss.

"Matt's personality will be very good - now he has landed on something - at cultivating it and making sure it is sustainable and it endures. So, a lot of positives from Oxford's perspective but let's not think that we have made it."

Oxford sit 22nd on goal difference, one place below Leicester, while Charlton are nine points ahead in 17th.