It’ll seem strange to have a blank weekend again, but no Tuesday night match and now a free Saturday means we’ve had a chance to take stock.

The break has enabled us to properly recharge our batteries for the second half of the season.

One of the things it has allowed us to do is make sure that our protocols and systems are spot on around the club.

Our matchday rules have been meticulous throughout the pandemic, but the new regulations from the EFL last week forced us into a few alterations.

Karl Robinson: Weekend off will not change my plans for Cambridge

Players can’t mix in the canteen or share the changing rooms as a group, so we’ve had to find new ways of doing things, like meetings.

We’re blessed with a large second building at the training ground, the pavilion, and we can open the bifold doors and do our meetings in two shifts.

It was about minus three when we did the first one the other morning, but we kept to the rules and had the doors and windows wide open!

I would like to mention physio Amy Cranston and club doctor James Baldock, if I may.

They head up our medical team and it’s a difficult enough job at the best of times.

Amy has been incredible in taking on the role of ensuring we follow all the protocols and James has also been exceptional – imagine walking into a new club in October, like he did, and having to deal with all this?

Maybe Oxford fans are used to the Baldock family doing great jobs around the place: his brother George did okay too!

The players have been excellent as well.

We give them plenty of responsibility and to have tests confirm no positive Covid results throughout the squad and coaching staff this week was amazing.

We aren’t naive.

We can follow every rule to the letter and this terrible virus can still affect any one of us.

All we can do is make sure we give ourselves the best chance of avoiding it.

We’re no different to everyone else reading this.

We have families affected by Covid and we share the same worries and fears as you all.

If football can help take your mind of things for 90 minutes then that’s great and hopefully our recent form has put a few smiles on faces across Oxfordshire.

Let’s hope that continues when we resume at home to Cambridge on Tuesday night.

Read also: Oxford United unsuccessful in Sky Bet League One monthly awards

I don’t place too much importance on awards and trophies, but it was nice to see Jack Stevens nominated for Sky Bet League One player of the month.

Jack deservedly won The Cabling Company’s supporters award for December and must have been a strong contender for the league prize.

I was flattered to see my name on the short–list for manager of the month, but didn’t worry too much about it once someone told me an amazing statistic: apparently the last United manager to win that award in the Football League was Ramon Diaz back in January 2005!

I didn’t have high hopes when I found that out, but there are more important things to concentrate on right now.

Stay safe everyone.