Mansfield Town are the first visitors of the season to the KasStad when they play United tomorrow evening. Last season the Stags were beaten by Huddersfield in the Division Three play-off final, and after losing their opening game 2-0 to Ian Atkins’ Bristol Rovers they will doubtless be keen to get their season back on track as soon as possible. Of course, Oxford also lost their opening game, at Boston, and will be hoping to recapture their home form of last season, that saw them only beaten once at the Kas, by Huddersfield, as it happens.

United still have various injury problems, with defender Dave Woozley and midfielder Mark E’Beyer having to wait to make their Oxford debuts. Mark Rawle is still sidelined with his groin strain, and Steve Basham will probably be unable to take part. Julian Alsop could be fit to be part of the squad, but Graham Rix is likely to continue with the same line-up that lost at York Street, although he could tinker with the midfield, possibly handing Terry Parker his first start in place of Danny Brown, or bringing Barry Quinn into the starting line-up for Paul Wanless.

Mansfield lost many of their key players over the summer, with Liam Lawrence joining Dean Whitehead at Sunderland, Craig Disley going to the Gas, Iyesden Christie ending up at Kiddy, Junior Mendes getting League One football, ironically with Huddersfield, and Bobby Hassell and Tony Vaughan going to Barnsley, amongst others. On the credit side they brought in Derek Asamoah from Northampton, and a certain Scott McNiven. However, the disruption to their squad means that they will probably be satisfied with a mid-table finish.

Tomorrow is Tommy Mooney’s birthday, so it’s with heavy heart that, following Saturday’s reverse, we have to lay aside our uncharacteristic optimistic outlook and revert to cynicism. Mooney may well grab himself a birthday goal, but in a game that promises goals by the bucketful, we can’t see further than a 2-2 draw.