OWEN Dale is enjoying the tweak in system which he feels is making Oxford United an unpredictable team to play against.

The U’s have switched to a 4-3-3 set-up for the last three games, with Cameron Brannagan the deepest of the midfield three, while two attacking midfielders play in front of him.

What then essentially becomes a front five sees rotations between players, with the wingers swapping flanks, or Mark Harris dropping deep to allow the attacking midfielders to push on.

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Dale said: “It’s enjoyable and gets more bodies up the pitch, and allow us to sustain attacks, and counter-press, and keep teams penned in.

“Sometimes when you play with two sixes, it can leave the likes of myself and Murph [Josh Murphy] a little bit isolated if we get doubled up on. You’ve then got to beat two or three men to find a pass.

“This gives us options and rotations, which keeps teams guessing, and makes us unpredictable.”

He added: “We’ve always got to be on it tactically. With the lads that we’ve got, and the rotations, we all know the roles.

“We’re clever enough and we know the roles, and what’s required in positions.”

Dale netted his first United goal with the third in the 4-0 win at home to Fleetwood Town on Easter Monday.

The former Blackpool winger said: “It was really good to get on the scoresheet. I think I’d been unlucky in the previous games. I’ve had quite a few chances, but just not managed to find the back of the net.

“Sometimes you just need one of them where it drops for you. It was a relatively easy finish and hopefully that will open the floodgates for me because I’m getting a lot of chances.”

He added: “We want to play exciting, possession football, and control the game. It’s what we’re good at, and we’ve got the players to do so.

“We want to play football that’s easy on the eye, but we want to win games. We’ve got the desire to win games, and I think we’re starting to click as a team now.

“We’re all going in the right direction and it’s going to be an exciting end to the season.”

The U’s go into the weekend occupying Sky Bet League One’s seventh position, and with just five games of the season to go, to claim a play-off spot.

Dale said: “I don’t think pressure is a bad thing, I think it’s good to have some pressure because it puts you in a mindset and mind frame where you’re focused.

“We all know what the task is and we all understand what the task is, and we’re looking to execute it.

“As a footballer, this is what you want in a run-in. We think we should’ve been higher, but where we are now is where we are now.”