Mark Gelder
Last Saturday Oxford lost 2-1 to Morecambe, after a thrilling first five minutes where Morecambe went ahead, and United equalised through Scott Rendell from the kick-off. The game looked like nothing would happen until Morecambe got a winner with fifteen minutes to go from an easily worked corner.

United remain in sixth place, and apart from the league leaders, the promotion places from 75 to 70 are contested by Torquay, Crawley, Shrewsbury and Southend. This leaves just two play-off places, and United, Cheltenham, Crewe and Gillingham are on 65 to 61 points, all with six games to play.

In a rare Friday night game, United travel to Northampton Town. At the end of November, Aidy Boothroyd (previously of Watford and then Coventry City) was appointed manager on a rolling one year contract. December and January were hardly a good start, with six losses, two draws and one win, leaving them bottom of the football league on 31 January. A decent run in February and March with seven wins, three draws and just two defeats has lifted them to 18th and the near safety of 42 points, with seven games to play, although those last 11 games were mostly against mid-table opposition though, with only Cheltenham being in the current top nine.

United won the home fixture in December 2-1, with goals from Tom Craddock and Deane Smalley, their only league goals for the club this season. Last season, United played at Northampton on a Saturday for a change, losing 2-1, Andy Holt and Leon McKenzie scoring for the cobblers, with Tom Craddock on the scoresheet for United.

United News
With Michael Duberry back fit, we can perhaps expect the tried and tested back four of Damian Batt, Jake Wright, Duberry and Liam Davis, although Antony Tonkin could feature. Adam Chapman will perhaps be switched for Andy Whing, although with Simon Heslop back as well, we could see any number of options in midfield with Asa Hall scoring, and Peter Leven still nursing a shoulder injury through to the end of the season, and Mark Wilson too. There are more options up front, with Oli Johnson and JPP also now fit again, and so perhaps either James Constable or Scott Rendell will start as centre forward, with any of Johnson, Dean Morgan, Cristian Montano, and JPP to play alongside, with changes on the bench.

Cobblers News
Aidy Boothroyd's side will take heart from their decent run, and will definitely not be thinking of the beach at this stage of the season. Boothroyd has said that he appreciates United's attacking style of football, and perhaps will be aiming to get one on the break.

After the Battle of Valley Parade between Bradford City and Crawley, Bradford recalled their goalkeeper from Northampton to cover the suspended Jon McLaughlin, and 26 year-old Neal Kitson now makes his home debut for the Cobblers. Kitson previously played for Rocherster Rhinos, and saved a last minute penalty for Northampton at Crewe last week.

Adebayo Akinfenwa was initially dropped by Boothroyd, but has scored seven in the last eight games, and has scored 17 league goals, just one behind Izale McLeod of Barnet FC, and AFC Wimbledon's Jack Midson. 'Bayo has scored over 100 goals in league and cup in his career, not bad for a player they said was “too big to play football”, although he has lost 1 1/2 stone in recent months as Boothroyd tries to adapt him to a game with more running and movement – he doesn't like the treadmill, but settled for the bike and the rower to slim down.

Travel newsThere's a circus in the town – a fair in one of the car-parks actually, so arriving early may be a good plan. [@opponent]Northampton Town[/@opponent][@connection]Northampton Town[/@connection]