OWEN Dale is looking forward to playing further forward than he has so far this season, after joining Oxford United on January deadline day.

The 25-year-old has been mainly used as a wing back in Blackpool’s preferred 3-5-2 formation, despite spending the majority of his career before then as a winger.

While Dale admitted being used in a slightly more defensive role was frustrating for him, he knew it was for the sake of the team.

Now with United after joining for an undisclosed fee, Dale is excited to get back to playing as a winger.

He said: “It was frustrating, but sometimes you’ve got to do a role for the team. That’s important, but I feel at my best, and my strengths too, are higher up the pitch.

“That’s what I want come here and do, and show. It’s pretty perfect for me, it’s how I want to play – out wide with the licence to come inside.

“I’m right-footed but I’m not afraid to use my left, so playing on the right or left doesn’t matter too much to me.

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“I like to get at people one v one, and play possession football, and get in and around the box.

“I want to score goals and create goals, and that’s what I like to do.”

He added: “After speaking to Ed [Waldron, head of recruitment] and the gaffer, the ambition of the club, and where the club’s looking to go, is something I’m really on board with.

“I’ve got a lot of ambition and I want to play in a team that plays exciting, possession football.

“I think the project here really suits me and I’m really looking forward to it.

“There’s only one way this club’s looking, and that’s up. I want to do everything I can to help the team and help the club get to where they want to go.”

U’s head coach Des Buckingham added: “We’ve done a lot of work to get him in. He wasn’t the most disguised person at the game the other night.

“It’s very good to get him in. We were after a good right winger and he certainly ticks all the boxes to how we want to play.

“Not only that, but he’s 25, so from an age profile, he comes in and fits the style, but also has bags of experience in this league.

“He’s shown he’s more than capable of playing at this level, and he certainly ticks the boxes that we’re looking for.

“When we lost Stan Mills, we lost a bit of ability on that right-hand side, so to bring Owen in, will complement what we have and give us some more options.”