It’s FA Cup time on Saturday, giving the lads and supporters a welcome respite from their troubled league season. United visit Rochdale hoping for some sort of tonic before facing the same opponents in the league the following week. The good news is that whatever happens United’s position in the table won’t be any worse.

The Us go into the game with one or two worries eased, and one or two worries exacerbated. On the credit side, Chris Tardif should be fit to return to goalkeeping duties, allowing Alan Judge to get back to teaching Simon Cox to drive badly. In addition, Crystal Palace have give permission for Sam Togwell to play. On the debit side, Jon Ashton is serving his one-game suspension after receiving two yellow cards at Southend last week, meaning that either Lee Molyneaux or, heaven forbid, David Woozley could return to the side. In addition Matt Robinson is struggling with a knee injury picked up at Roots Hall, and deputy left back Terry Parker is also doubtful, leaving a rather gaping gap on that side of defence. At least the midfield and forward line can field the usual suspects, if that’s a good thing.

Rochdale have one or two worries themselves, with Darryl Burgess suspended following his red card against Cambridge. He will also miss the league meeting as he is forced to sit out three matches. However, they should have both Neil Edwards and Tony Gallimore back in the side after they both missed the win over Cambridge. United don’t have a very good record against Dale, but it’s the Us current away form that is more worrying, with only one win on the road since Graham Rix took charge.

This has been a particularly uninspiring season for Oxford so far, and a nice little run in the FA Cup could be just the tonic to lift the spirits (a gin and tonic, perhaps?), and with the pressure of their poor league form lifted, United may just do the business. A more likely scenario, of course, is that the two sides take each other to a replay, meaning that they will have three meetings against each other in the space of ten days. What joy.