Pirates ahoy!

United's next obstacle in their quest for the play-offs comes in the shape of struggling Bristol Rovers, who visit the KasStad tomorrow afternoon. With everything still so tight both at top and bottom of the table this is likely to be another tense encounter, with neither team giving anything away (except possibly Oxford, of course). Rovers will be scrapping for everything in their desparate bid for survival, while Oxford will be hoping to further consolidate their play-off bid by completing the double over the Gas.

Oxford will once again be without central defender Paul McCarthy, and we expect the same defensive formation as looked so nervous at Exeter yesterday. Hopefully by tomorrow they will have settled down, and also hopefully tomorrow the conditions will be more conducive to passing football. Midfield seems to be a problem area for Ian Atkins at the moment, with something clearly not right with Dave Savage's performances, and yet he seems strangely reluctant to give Dean Whitehead a decent chance. With Dave Waterman again covering for McCarthy in defence the choice for midfield ball-winner seems to be between James Hunt and Roy Hunter. A lot depends on Hunt's fitness. In attack the question really is who will partner Andy Scott. Dominic Foley has singularly failed to impress in his loan spell so far, but neither Manny Omoyinmi nor Jefferson Louis have shown that they can maintain a decent challenge for a full 90 minutes. It is possible that David Oldfield could play a part, unless Steve Basham has recovered from injury quicker than anticipated.

Rovers feature former United midfielder Mr Anonymous Rob Quinn, which does provide some hope for Oxford tomorrow. Unfortunately they also have lots of other players whose careers have never been sullied at United (although that's negated to some extent by their manager Ray Graydon, who not only wore the famous Yellow shirt, but was also a United coach in the Malcolm Shotton “if it moves shout at it” mode). Therefore our prediction is a somewhat predictable 1-0 away win.