Boston United visit the KasStad tomorrow for a fixture that really could set the tone for the rest of the first half of the season. Boston have won their last three league games, and also beat third division Huddersfield in the LSD Trophy on Wednesday night, whereas United saw their seven-game unbeaten run come to an end last Friday at Northampton, and then needed extra time and penalties to get past Brentford in the minor cup. Boston are now just four places and two points behind United, and with only three points seperating 7th-placed Oxford from 14th-placed Notts County things remain very tight in the middle of the fourth division.

There was a potential casualty to Brian Talbot's squad on Tuesday, when Rob Hughes had to be stretchered from the field to join Stuart Gray and Chris Hargreaves on the treatment table. With Andy Campbell injuring his back in training this leaves the Oxford squad looking somewhat threadbare, so there could be places on the bench again for the likes of Kyle McCoy, Billy Beechers, and Tom Franklin, who all featured in the squad for the Brentford game. In addition, Jon Ashton, Lee Mansell, and Eric Sabin, who were rested for the trip to Griffin Park, could find themselves back in the first team, leaving Talbot with some interesting choices to make. We would assume that Mansell would come in for Hughes, while Juuuude Stirling will probably make way for Ashton, but who would step down to allow Sabin to play? We reckon Bash, but who knows?

Boston apparently have a full squad to choose from, with Simon Rusk-Biscuit fit again after injury. Their danger man will presumably be former-Leicester striker Julian Joachim, but they've also got one or two other players who we've heard of, such as Noel Whelan and Jason Lee. Following the excesses of midweek, we are loath to go overboard on our prediction (there's a surprise), so we'll stick with a safety-first approach and suggest that a 1-1 scoreline might well be in the offing.