DANNY Rose admits his Oxford United teammates have upped the ante since he has been out of the side due to injury.

The central midfielder, who can also operate out wide, made his first start since the beginning of October in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Braintree Town in the Emirates FA Cup.

And he featured again in the 2-0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge in the southern section quarter-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Wednesday.

Rose was one of United’s stand-out performers in the first two months of the season, but a hip injury forced him off after 27 minutes against Accrington Stanley at the beginning of October.

During his absence, Liam Sercombe and John Lundstram have built a strong partnership, with Rose making only one appearance from the bench.

The challenge for the 27-year-old is to now find his way consistently back into head coach Michael Appleton’s starting XI.

Rose said: “We have got a lot of quality in that midfield area and over the last few weeks Lunny and Sercs have done remarkably well.

“There are no complaints from me about not being able to get in the team.

“They have raised the bar with their performances and to be able to play in that team you have to at least do that or better so you have to rise to it.”

The former Manchester United trainee, who is in his second spell with the U’s, is fully aware that the success of the team is what is most important.

And believes his experience of being out of the side last season, before he regained his place to help United finish the campaign eight games unbeaten, has helped him deal with not being in the team.

He said: “I had a spell out the team last year for a while and you come to know how to deal with that when it happens.

“A young player perhaps may react in the wrong way to what the manager wants, but you have to know what the ultimate goal is for the team and you have to be a team player.

“No individual is bigger than the club and it is about that ultimate reward of being successful as a team.”