Report filed by Tony Fallows

Oxford United will have to be on their guard tomorrow, as they welcome the league's bottom club, Droylsden, to the United Stadium. Oxford will be hoping to build on their confidence-boosting win over Histon last Saturday by piling on the misery for the Conference new boys. There is a bit more optimism around the United camp after a few encouraging performances, and there is even foolhardy talk of the play-offs being a (remote) possibility again. The Yellows would have to go on an extraordinary run of form to achieve this seemingly impossible task; they are 15 points off fifth-placed Cambridge United, having played a game more. With 15 more games to play, the Us would have to produce table-topping form to get anything out of this season. Stranger things have happened though (e.g. 1995/96) and if the small glimmer of hope is not to be crushed in true Oxford United fashion then a win is essential against the worst defence in the league. Earlier in the season the Bloods secured their first win of the season against the Us, live on Setanta. United succumbed to a 3-1 defeat, and Darren Patterson will want his new-look team to be ruthless with the Bloods.[@news]2197[/@news][@opponent]droylsden[/@opponent][@connection]droylsden[/@connection]

United may have Craig McAllister back after his hamstring injury. The striker, whose only full match since joining the Us was an impressive debut in the 4-0 smashing of Altrincham, will probably be on the bench and may see 20 minutes or so towards the end of the match. Young midfielder, Danny Rose, is likely to join him on the bench after securing a longer-term contract till the end of the season. After the departure of Joel Ledgister, on loan to Hayes & Yeading, and Rob Duffy extending his loan at Wrexham, Patterson will be hoping to bring a new face in before the match; in all likelihood a right winger.

The Bloods have struggled to make the step up to the Conference Premier and have conceded 77 goals already this season, with only three wins to their name, one of them coming against United. Their last match was a 3-0 defeat at high-flying Burton Albion, and the Bloods are on a poor run of form that has seen them lose nine games in their last ten league matches. The one to watch this week is classy forward Jody Banim; he started his career as a trainee at Manchester United and went on to score nearly a goal a game for Radcliffe Boro. This season, Banim is the Bloods' top goalscorer with 13 goals, ten of them coming in the league. Although traditionally pessimistic in our predictions, Rage Online really can't see anything other than a home win tomorrow (we'll probably be indulging in a spot of hat eating on Sunday), and we'll even go as far as suggesting it could be as much as a 4-0 win to the Yellows. Maybe we're getting a bit giddy with all the excitement.