Neal Ardley is determined to push AFC Wimbledon up the league after solidifying their place in the Football League.
The 43-year-old will celebrate three years in charge of the Dons on Saturday when they travel to Oxford, having turned his side from relegation fodder to League Two regulars.
And while Ardley is proud of reversing the club’s poor fortunes, he is refusing to rest on his laurels.
He said: “It has to be about getting us out of the league. We’ve had the success in the cup and produced our own over the course of the last couple of seasons.
“But ultimately, the fans will rightly be saying we want to challenge at the top and have a bit of excitement.
“We have gone from a struggling team in League Two for a couple of seasons to a team that was a mid-table team last season.
“We want to be a team this season that are close to having a chance of going up. I think we are good enough, it is just about whether we can be consistent enough.
“That’s what we’re trying our best to do.”
The Dons will be looking to build upon a strong performance last weekend when they saw off Barnet 2-0 at Kingsmeadow thanks to strikes from Lyle Taylor and Sean Rigg.
And they will have striker Tom Elliott back available after he returned to full training.
Adebayo Akinfenwa and Jon Meades have also been cleared for the match, leaving Ardley with a full-strength squad for Saturday.
But the AFC Wimbledon boss is aware of the dangers that Oxford will pose, with the hosts lying in fifth place in the league table.
He added: “Oxford had a very good summer and they did very good business. They look a decent team.
“We feel that we had a decent summer too though and that we are finding our feet. I think both teams are better than they were last season.
“Another manager went away from our place on Saturday saying that his team did not pass the ball well and they were not athletic enough. It was the same after Notts County and Northampton.
“It seems to be a common theme, but maybe they were not quite at it because we are quite good.”
