Hartlepool preview

United face one of their longest journeys of the season tomorrow when they travel to Hartlepool for their second successive crunch relegation battle, following the 1-1 home draw with Carlisle on Tuesday. Should United lose at Hartlepool then it would be reasonable to say that this season will have turned into a disaster.

Oxford will be without all the usual suspects, plus Wayne Hatswell and Martin Thomas who, if they weren't injured anyway, would be serving the first match of their three game ban. Loan signing Stuart Douglas is with the squad, but following his last couple of performances Mark Wright would have to be incredibly stubborn to leave out Manny Omoyinmi. Whether Wright will stick with his new 3-4-3 formation away from home is uncertain, although he must be pleased with the number of chances it has been creating for the club's goal-shy front men. It will also be interesting to see if Paul Powell retains his place in the side following his substitution on Tuesday and Ted McMinn's extraordinary outburst about Powell's alleged drinking habits.

United's recent form has been nothing to shout about, and the omens surrounding the club's first trip to Hartlepool since 1965 are not particularly propitious. The northerners have an Oxford connection in Mick Tait, who started his career with United, and they picked up an important win at Macclesfield on Tuesday to lift themselves off the foot of the table. Rage Online's recent record of unsettling accuracy in our predictions means that we sincerely hope that we're barking up the wrong tree when we predict that United will go down 2-1 to the Monkeyhangers.