United go back up to Field Mill tomorrow evening for the rearranged game against Mansfield, the original having been controversially abandoned at half-time with no goals having been scored. That would have been David Oldfield’s one and only foray (so far) into league management, but of course the stats were rendered null and void and now United are under the management of Graham Rix.

Rix will, hopefully, have learned a thing or two from his first two games in charge, especially the defeat at Northampton where, arguably, it was his substitutions that cost United the points. Rix is still new enough in the post that most Oxford fans are prepared to forgive him the odd tactical error, and he’s also new enough to mean that it is difficult to predict his line-up and formation in advance. So we won’t bother. What seems to be the case, though, is that everyone in the squad, including Barry Quinn and possibly even Jamie Brooks, is now fit. This gives Rix several options, and we await with interest his selections.

Mansfield have one or two problems, with Tony Vaughan suspended, and Iyesden Christie out with injury. This is (still) quite a massive game, with the Stags just a point behind the Us, and United still only four points behind Huddersfield in third place. However, both teams have been on poor runs recently, with Oxford not having won away since the turn of the year. We predict a soul-destroying 0-0 draw.