Oxford United make the trip to the Shay this evening for their televised game against Halifax Town[@opponent]Halifax Town[/@opponent]. Following Dagenham & Redbridge's 2-0 win over Stevenage Borough last night Oxford are now 12 points behind the Conference leaders, but still need to win in order to consolidate their place in the play-off zone. United are eight points above sixth-placed Burton Albion, but both they and fifth-placed Exeter City (also on 61 points) have a game in hand on Oxford, while seventh-placed Stevenage have played three matches fewer than the Yellows.[@connection]Halifax Town[/@connection] United beat Halifax 2-0 at home in the first match of the season[@report]256[/@report], thanks to a Rob Duffy penalty and a thirty-yard special from Andy Burgess, but in the interim the Shaymen knocked the Us out of the FA Trophy, winning 2-1 in a replay at the Shay following a 2-2 draw at the United stadium[@news]2049[/@news].

Jim Smith has brought in Millwall striker Chris Zebroski on a one-month loan deal in order to provide a new option. Zebroski had a trial at Grenoble Road at the start of the season, when he was still at Plymouth Argyle, but he signed for the Lions instead, and has scored three goals in 32 games, and picked up nine yellow cards, since the start of the season. Zebroski goes into the squad for tonight, where he will be vying for the front positions with Yemi Odubade and Marvin Robinson, who scored against Halifax in the FA Trophy game in Oxford. Leading scorer Rob Duffy sits out the second game of his two-match suspension, while midfield Martin Foster starts his two-match ban and so won't face his former club. Carl Pettefer is the obvious replacement for Foster, but Chris Hargreaves may get the nod instead. At the back, skipper Phil Gilchrist is still missing with his back problem, so Barry Quinn will retain the captain's armband. The only likely change to the side that won 3-0 at Altrincham on Saturday is Rufus Brevett in for Gavin Johnson.

Halifax are having a bad time of it at the moment, with chairman Geoff Ralph resigning last week, and they have just had winger Felix Bastians recalled from his loan spell by Nottingham Forest. Bastians scored four times in 11 games for Halifax. The Shaymen are currently just two places, and one point, above Cambridge United, who occupy the final relegation spot, although they do have two or more games in hand on most of their rivals. They have lost only three home games in the Conference this season, and recently beat Exeter 2-1 at the Shay, before drawing 0-0 with Rushden & Diamonds. Rage Online isn't particularly confident about this evening, especially given United's propensity to implode at any given time, but we can't quite bring ourselves to predict a defeat, so we're suggesting that a 1-1 draw might be in the offing.

There are no other Conference fixtures tonight. Tonight's game is being shown on Sky Sports 1, coverage commencing at 7.30.