After two defeats on the road, Oxford United return to home action tomorrow with a match against part-timers Tamworth [@opponent]Tamworth[/@opponent]. United still have their unbeaten home record to protect and, more importantly, their two-point lead at the top of the Conference. Hopefully, losing their unbeaten record will relieve some of the pressure on the United players and enable them to play with a bit more freedom. The downside is that they may also have suffered a severe blow to their confidence, while their opponents may lose some of the fear that previous sides obviously felt on their visits to Minchery Farm this season.

Jim Smith will definitely be making some changes to the side that lost at Gravesend so abominably last weekend. Leading scorer Rob Duffy is available again after breaking his finger in the Aldershot match, leaving Smith to decide which of Steve Basham, Yemi Odubade, or on-loan Jamie Slabber to play alongside him. Slabber is probably too similar in style, while Bash hasn’t done himself any favours recently, so we expect to see Yemi in the starting line-up. It looks likely that both skipper Phil Gilchrist and left-wingback Rufus Brevett will also be unfit to play, both receiving injuries at Northfleet. Matt Day would be an obvious replacement for Gilly, with Chris Willmott taking over the captaincy, while Gavin Johnson’s return from injury, for which the Roof was originally signed, comes at just the right time to reclaim his place. Steady Eddie Hutchinson is also fit again, after missing the trip to Kent through injury, and is likely to be on the bench.

Tamworth have never played United in a competitive fixture before, but there are some links between the sides. Fast Eddie Anaclet [@player]Odhiambo-Anaclet, Eddie[/@player] was on Muff’s books last season, where he played as a striker, while former Us to have played for the Lambs include goalie Phil ‘God’ Whitehead [@player]Whitehead, Phil[/@player] and Julian ‘Banana Bear’ Alsop [@player]Alsop, Julian[/@player]. In addition, one player who never quite made it at Oxford, Norman Sylla, played briefly for Tamworth before going on to star at Redditch. Tamworth have won their last two games, including winning 2-1 at Burton Albion in the FA Cup, before beating Woking 3-1 last Saturday, so they will be full of confidence. However, Rage Online fully anticipates some sort of OUFC backlash from the Gravesend result, and it therefore behoves us to predict a United win. Let’s say 2-0, for modesty’s sake.

The day’s other most significant game, as far as Oxford are concerned, is the visit of Dagenham & Redbridge to fourth-placed York City. We really do hope that the Minstermen don’t let us down, as Burton did so badly last weekend, and that they can sheathe the Daggers (sorry). Third-placed Weymouth are ten points behind the Us, and face a difficult trip to Woking, so there’s a good chance that they may lose even further ground on the top two sides, while fifth-placed Gravesend visit Northwich.