Mark Gelder
Saturday sees Bristol Rovers first league visit to the Kassam Stadium since March 2006. A 1-0 home win via a Steve Basham penalty under the temporary manager Darren Patterson saw Oxford United in 18th place on 40 points, with ten games to go. The Gas and Oxford had until then been in the same division for seven consecutive years, in Division 3 for 1999/00 and 2000/01, and then Division 4 for 01/02, 02/03, 03/04, 04/05 and 05/06, which is quite possibly a record for the Us playing the same opponents each year.

Last year United ran out 6-1 winners in the League Cup first round match against Rovers, with goals from Simon Heslop (2), Matt Green, James Constable (2), and Jack Midson.

The midweek game saw United notch up another away win, this time at Aldershot Town FC in the Johnstone Paint Trophy. Wilder put out a strong squad, with Ryan Clarke and Michael Duberry being rested for the full game, and Paul McLaren and James Constable coming on as second half substitutes. Liam Davis apparently needs no rest, havng played every minute of the 13 games played this season, including the extra time during the Cardiff Cup game. At the Rec, 156 away fans were delighted to be able to sing that “I was there when Smalley scored”, after Dean Smalley notched up a classy first league goal for the club, following Rob Hall's opener (see news link to the right for more on Hall). The final few minutes were tense after Aldershot pulled one back, but unlike last year, manager Chris Wilder seems to be taking this competition more seriously.

United start the game in 6th place on 19 points after 11 games, whereas Bristol Rovers are in 15th place on 15 points. Rovers have had a mixed bag of results in recent games: – winning 1-0 against Shrewsbury; losing 1-0 at home to Aldershot Town; winning away 3-2 at Morecambe after going one up, Morecambe fired back to lead 2-1, before two more Rovers goals took the three points. Their last match was a 3-1 defeat at home to Cheltenham.

Team news for United is unclear: Smalley may feel he deserves a start, however Chris Wilder has essentially named an unchanged side in the league for four games now. Injuries are presumably as was, with Worley, Capaldi, Craddock, Chapman, Tonkin all recovering.

The Torquay connection is fairly clear, Paul Buckle left the Seagulls to join the Rovers in May 2011, bringing with him striker Chris Zebroski, and goalkeeper Scott Bevan, who we also faced during his Kidderminster days. Matt Harrold is topscorer with five and also top fouler with four yellows, whereas Zebroski has had most shots with 25 and most yellow cards with 4.

Other news

Plymouth Argyle have had a loan transfer ban put in by the league until they exit administration and claim to have a squad of just 18 players.

Swindon Town manager PDC has bizarrely said he will tell his players to dive in order to win penalties, so referees will hopefully be on the look out for this.

At Hereford, former Fulham player Gary Peters has been appointed director of football. [@news]2980[/@news][@news]2978[/@news][@opponent]Bristol Rovers[/@opponent][@connection]Bristol Rovers[/@connection]