Our preview of Saturday's match at Oxford...
Oxford United
Sky Bet League 2
Saturday 20th September
Kassam Stadium, Grenoble Rd, Oxford, OX4 4XP
Kick-off: 15:00
Referee: Christopher Kavannagh
Weather: Bring your jackets as there are likely to be showers in Oxford on Saturday, however it should still be warm - 18 degrees.
Ticket news…
Tickets are available to buy either in the club shop or online for collection until 12pm tomorrow (Friday 18th Sept).
For those unable to buy in advance, tickets will be available from the North Ticket Office adjacent to the visitors turnstiles on the day.
Prices on the day are as follows:
£22 – Adults
£13 – Students/65+/U18
U7 – FREE!
Team news:
GW confirmed that Calvin Zola suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury and will be once more unavailable at the weekend. Dean Parrett is edging ever closer to full fitness but is unlikely to feature at the weekend; he did get 20 minutes in an U18 game earlier this week though. Simon Walton and Jerome Okimo are out for the foreseeable future, both with hamstring injuries and Andy Bond will also be serving the final game of his three game suspension.
View from the dressing room:
To watch the full press-conference with the gaffer, either sign up or sign into Boro Player.
Last time we met:
Boro won 2-1 at Oxford on their way to securing a place in the League Two play-offs in 2011. An own-goal from Harry Worley got the ball rolling but Oxford equalised from the penalty spot just before half-time. Not long into the second half Craig Reid scored the vital goal which meant Boro kept their advantage in the race for the play-offs.
To watch video highlights from that game plus every other Boro game since joining the Football League, head over to the Boro Player archive.
Last season…
Oxford had a fantastic first half of the season which saw them second in the table on boxing day and looking like shoo-ins for promotion. Their biggest strength was their away form as they managed to not lose an away game until defeat at Newport County in February, the result which seemed to signal the start of their decline. Since Chris Wilder left the club at the end of January things were never the same and they lost 11 of the last 15 games of the season, meaning the club finished a disappointing 8th place.
The story so far…
Contrary to last season, Oxford have started poorly in this campaign; just three draws, four losses and one win from their first eight games puts them 22nd in the table.
However, the team are certainly improving; after four defeats in a row they are at least unbeaten in their last four league games as draws to Dagenham, Southend and Exeter were followed up by a win last time out to Accrington.
Not going to the game?
Listen to live match commentary on the Boro Player service where you'll also find full match highlights and full post-match interviews on Sunday. We'll also be providing live minute-by-minute updates on our Twitter account, with the key incidents reported live on our Facebook page.