CAMERON Brannagan is looking to channel the double frustration of his two-month knee injury and Oxford United’s thrashing by Middlesbrough.

U’s midfield ace Brannagan returned from the off and played just over 70 minutes in the 6-2 defeat against Boro on Saturday.

Despite the result, Brannagan was one of United’s better performers, and twice tested Boro goalkeeper Sol Brynn with a couple of stinging strikes.

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Brannagan said: “It was a special feeling just to get back on the pitch on Saturday after a long time out. Fingers crossed, I’m completely fine.

“I waited a long time to try and play in this league, and it was frustrating for it to happen so soon.

“We started the season and then it happened, so it was frustrating, but there are worse things in life than me getting a sore knee and being out for eight weeks.

“Everybody in there was great with me, and the morale was great. We had a laugh, and the physios were fantastic.

“That’s put me in the position to get back and hopefully keep playing.”

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Following the defeat against Boro, things don’t get any easier for the U’s, who make the trip to Sheffield United tonight, facing a Blades side which if not for a two-point deduction, would be top of Sky Bet Championship.

Brannagan said: “We want to play these games. These are big games and it’s something that we worked hard for last season, to play against the best teams and show how good we are.

“It wasn’t the greatest result on Saturday, performance-wise as well, but we looked at it and what we could do better.

“We weren’t great on Saturday, and we all know that. We learnt what we need to do better.

“The levels are very good. There are some fantastic players in this league, and some teams, which we saw on Saturday.

“You make certain mistakes, and you’ll get punished. We need to stick together, like we will do.

“We’ve competed with some top teams this season already. We’ve had Burnley, we’ve had West Brom and Norwich, and teams that are up there.

“We look at ourselves and we could’ve done better. The weekend is gone now.”

On tonight’s visit to Bramall Lane, Brannagan said: “There’ll be no better place to go and win. There’ll be a packed out crowd, it’ll be a great atmosphere, and it’s something we’re relishing and looking forward to. As a player, you want to play in these big moments.

“This is where we want to be. We don’t want to be anywhere else, we want to be in this league.

“We want to push on to be better. These are the teams we’ve got to play, and we’ve got to try and get the results against them.”