Mark Gelder
After a two week mini-break, Oxford United today head up North towards Morecambe, presumably taking in an afternoon session at a friendly Premier League training ground. Morecambe are perhaps unfortunate to have so many higher league teams in close proximity, as those driving up the M6 will witness by the passing roadsigns .

Nonetheless, Morecambe have settled into football league and are now in their third season at the Globe Arena, and are one point and a place above United. The Us have only visited Morecambe twice, once in the Conference to their Christie Park ground, with the aptly named Carwash stand, which indeed had a carwash behind it.

The Globe is perhaps a mile from the old ground, and is a tidy affair, with a large seated main stand along one side of the pitch with conference facilities and boxes, two covered stepped terraces behind each goal, and an uncovered shallow terrace along the opposite side of the pitch. Also there is an impressive all colour and pictures scoreboard. For away fans on the terrace, there is an extremely narrow passage behind the stand to the catering and bar area – which is somewhat bewildering as there is nothing but car park behind the wall.

The main stand catering used to have prize winning pre-match meals, however whether this is still going is not known. For pie lovers, the home made pies at Morecambe continue their good reputation from Christie Park. Indeed, in June “the club won the Supreme Champion and the Best Football Pie classes at the prestigious British Pie Awards in Melton Mowbray. The award came for the chicken, ham and leek pie which has become so popular at the Globe this season.”

Both visits to Morecambe have been 3-0 wins, and last season United did the double over the Shrimps, winning 4-0 at home and 3-0 away, with two goals from Asa Hall and one from Paul McLaren.

United team news
The injury list finally seems to be coming down: Tom Craddock should now be fit and raring to go following his suspension in the Southend cup game. Anthony Tonkin is apparently recovered from illness, whilst Alfie Potter and Michael Duberry could also feature – however Chris Wilder may not wish to rush their returns. With Liam Davis suspended following his sending off against Cheltenham, there are opportunities all round. Tyrone Marsh scored in the FA Youth Cup in midweek and the manager has intimated that he is starting to like the progression shown by the youth team.

Morecambe news
Manager Jim Bentley is still signed on as a player, however after more than 300 appearances for the Shrimps since joining in 2002, he is now concentrating his efforts on management and has not yet played in 2011/12.

Defender Nick Fenton is an experienced player with over 400 league games behind him, and has scored three goals. Top scorer is Kevin Ellison with seven in the league, Danny Carlton has six, and Laurence Wilson five.

Despite an opening day defeat to Barnet, the Shrimps have put together some decent results, including a 6-0 win against Crawley, 4-0 versus Port Vale, 2-1 against both Gillingham and Cheltenham, and a 1-1 draw against Southend. It seems that Bentley's men can quietly keep on doing what they are doing without distractions of other managers or their own fans.

Other news

PDC has managed to describe his players this week without resorting to donkeys, stallions, chihuahua or rottweiler analogies. Instead he compares them to himself: “They are all good guys, all good professionals but some of them are even better than myself … I could not expect this at League Two level. I have some idea – in the Premier League I played many years there …so I have to say that many of them surprised me in some way”[@opponent]Morecambe[/@opponent][@connection]Morecambe[/@connection]