Mark Gelder

It is one year this weekend that Oxford United last visited Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose ground. James Constable and Tom Craddock put the Us two up by halftime, however a resurgent Macclesfield saw them win 3-2. The United defence that day was Ben Purkiss, Leigh Franks, Harry Worley and Anthony Tonkin, with Mark Creighton on the bench. This also saw the lowest league total crowd of the season to watch the Yellows, with just 1,395 (or 1,935) in attendance, depending on whether you believe the the Press Association statistics or the match report – whichever, it was the lowest.

Last Saturday saw United finally gain a home win after four draws, against a struggling Bristol Rovers side. The two goal lead from Constable and a Peter Leven penalty looked vulnerable until a second James Constable goal took the score to three nil with 6 minutes to go. Both United and Rovers have been charged by the FA with “failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour” – although there didn't seem to be anything serious during the match to merit this. In today's football league statistics, it can be noted that United are top of the fouls list with 148, of which 22 have come from Liam Davis, and 19 from James Constable.

Macclesfield have signed Chesterfield striker Scott Boden on a one month loan, perhaps surprising as he has played in eleven games this season, but mostly from the bench, where he has scored 14 goals from 87 appearances in total. They have several players out injured (Paul Morgan, Jack Cudworth and Colin Daniel), and have had an odd last few games:- a home win against Northampton Town, was followed by an away defeat to bottom side Plymouth Argyle, a 2-0 home win against Swindon Town, and last week's 2-1 away win at Aldershot Town. Macclesfield are in a respectable 12th place in the league on 17 points. Ben Tomlinson is top scorer with five, having joined from Worksop Town in the Summer.

United's team news saw Tom Craddock return to light training (see story to the right), and also Andy Haworth's loan extended by a month. Manager Chris Wilder claimed to have eight players unavailable last week, which was Craddock, Capaldi, Worley, Tonkin, Chapman, and then probably James, Whing, Potter, and Franks, which comes to nine. [@news]2983[/@news][@news]2982[/@news][@opponent]Macclesfield Town[/@opponent][@connection]Macclesfield Town[/@connection]