Midfielder Jamie Hand has extended his loan spell from Watford for a further month, which is good news. Hand was due to return to the Hornets after this Saturday’s game against Bury, but with Barry Quinn still not ready to return, and other injury worries in midfield too (notably Chris Hackett and Tom Winters) Oxford would have been severely lacking in cover in the centre of the park.

One implication of this is that Hand’s place in the team to face Bury is pretty much assured. It’s difficult to tell who else can have that security after last weekend’s shambles at Yeovil, but Graham Rix is unlikely to stick with the same line-up. Some of the changes may be enforced anyway, with Jon Ashton and Leo Roget both carrying injuries in central defence, so Lee Molyneaux and Dave Woozley may feature. Rix may also decide to return Matt Robinson to his rightful role as a left back, and possibly end the experiment of playing Steve Basham as a right winger, although both of these options may depend on the fitness of Winters and Hackett.

Rix may also decide to recall Paul Wanless to midfield, as United have missed his tenaciousness and solidity. Another option might be to drop Lee Bradbury back to the central positions, pushing Steve Basham up alongside Tommy Mooney. Goalkeeper Chris Tardif, one of the few players to emerge with any credit from last Saturday (or at least with no further debit), should keep his place, although Simon Cox’s displays for the reserves are doing his prospects of a first-team recall no harm.

Bury are just one place below Oxford, but haven’t won any of their last three games. Their dangermen are Jon Newby, Dave Flitcroft and Dave Nugent, but their away record isn’t brilliant and they may be wary of a United backlash. Unfortunately Rage Online can’t see it, feeling that the problems might be too deep-rooted to exorcise over just one week. Much as we hate to say it, we predict Bury to win 1-0. We also believe that United could be looking at the lowest league crowd yet at the KasStad, a situation that the club claims it’s looking to address, hopefully with the involvement of the fans.