OXFORD United are showing their strength in depth at a crucial time of the season, says Cameron Brannagan.

The U’s will be able to call on Brandon Barker and Mark Sykes for tonight’s visit to AFC Wimbledon (7pm), after both players missed Saturday’s 3-2 win over Gillingham through injury.

Sam Long deservedly grabbed the headlines as his late double snatched victory, but there were also important cameos from Dan Agyei and Sam Winnall, the latter scoring United’s first goal.

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Players in every outfield position have chipped in during the last three matches, with Brannagan one of ten people to find the net, and that does not surprise the midfielder.

He said: “The gaffer was right to make the changes when he did and the players that came on made a big impact.

“People that aren’t starting get frustrated at times, but we’ve got a lot of quality in the squad.

“Ruffs (Josh Ruffels) and Longy have been quality this season – I couldn’t have been happier for Longy when he put that in on Saturday.

“He’s a top kid, he works hard every single day and he’s Oxford born and bred, so it was huge for him.”

The Gillingham triumph saw United move into the Sky Bet League One play-off places for the first time this season – less than three weeks before the campaign ends.

But for most of the game it looked like the U’s would suffer a damaging defeat, as the visitors controlled the first 70 minutes to go 2-0 up.

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Both goals came from Gillingham winning the second ball and Brannagan knows it is an area United must improve.

He said: “We can only focus on ourselves and play our own game and hopefully that’ll be enough to get the three points.

“We didn’t start well on Saturday, we’ll all admit that, but we can’t be perfect all the time.

“We need to be better from second phases, but it’s a learning curve and we won so hopefully we can take it into Tuesday.”

The return of Barker and Sykes means only long-term absentees John Mousinho and Marcus McGuane remain out, with Karl Robinson relishing the options at his disposal.

The U's boss said: “It’s as strong a squad as we’ve had going into a game and that puts us in a really good place.

“We know the closing weeks of the season are going to be hard, but the pleasing things for us is whatever happens we’ve given people hope.”