Tonight sees yet another visit of Exeter City to Grenoble Road, the sides having met four times last season. In the league, United beat the Grecians 1-0 at home, thanks to a goal from Steve Basham, now plying his trade for the opposition, and lost 2-1 at St James Park on New Year's Day, during an injury crisis that meant John Dempster was forced to play as a striker, and two youngsters, Andy Gunn and Josh Kennet, were handed their debuts. That game was Basham's last in Oxford colours, as he received a season-ending injury at the hands of his new colleagues.[@opponent]exeter city[/@opponent][@connection]exeter city[/@connection] The season climaxed with the two play-off semi-final matches, which saw the scorelines reversed, United winning 1-0 away and losing 2-1 at home, before losing in the penalty shoot-out. City went to Wembley, but were beaten 2-1 by Morecambe and so remain in the fifth division. Despite the match coming so early in the season, many are talking about it as a possible title decider. Obviously it's not, but if people want to hype up the match it makes it more interesting.

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Jim Smith may well field the same side that started in Saturday's disappointing 1-1 draw with Halifax, although if Eddie Hutchinson has recovered from his hamstring problem he is likely to return to the midfield, which looked worryingly lightweight at times at the weekend. The defence will almost certainly be unchanged, while up front neither Yemi Odubade nor Marvin Robinson looked to have done enough when they came off the bench to replace Rob Duffy and Paul Shaw, while Gary Twigg and Joel Ledgister are both still injured. It's Shaw's 34th birthday today, so United's newest recruit will be hoping for a double celebration tonight.

Exeter are now in 9th place, just one position above United, having started the season brightly. However, their supporters' dissatisfaction with Paul Tisdale and his insistence on a bizarre 3-4-3 formation makes the Oxford fans' concerns over Smith's 5-3-2 (or 3-5-2, whatever) pale into nothing. The chickens came home to roost on Saturday, when City were hammered 4-0 at Kidderminster Harriers. So, while United might be going into the game with thoughts of revenge for the play-off defeat, Exeter will be wanting to bounce back from their worst Conference defeat for some time. Rage Online predicts another draw, possibly 2-2. Hey, we got the Halifax score spot on.

Don't forget that the Rage Online Chat facility is available for use by those unable to attend tonight's match.