"The last two performances have been encouraging," Smith told the club's official website even though the pain of another two points thrown away will be stinging him inside.
"We all felt we should have had it all sewn up by now and possibly could have had a lot more points, but we haven't," he added.
"Having said that, we're in the fight and I think we've still got a great chance to be where we want to be."
Rushden gave Oxford the chance to close the gap significantly on Nationwide Conference leaders Dagenham after they beat the Daggers 2-1, but the U's spurned their chance.
Oxford boss Smith knows it was a game his side should have put to bed to seal three points, although a now seven-point gap means Dagenham are not out of reach.
Smith added: "We're obviously disappointed by virtue of the fact that it [the equaliser] was so near to the end.
"But if you looked at the game overall, we had four or five great chances and they had three or four really good chances also.
"We're disappointed because it's not a win, but as a result and a performance, it was quite pleasing.
"The thing that let us down was our inability to turn our chances into goals. They had chances, but we had gilt-edged chances.
"There are a lot of games left - we've got 15 to go - and teams get tired, it's a long season, squads get lessened and Dagenham have sold two good players.
"There are going to be a lot more twists and turns, I'm sure, by the end of the season."
Source: http://www.confguide.com/newsArticle.do?id=5526