Boz
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- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
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- Player
- Iain Hume
The hosts are in a mid-table position in L1 before the delayed game against strugglers Wigan, though in decent form and with games in hand against most of the leading pack. From memory, our 3-0 defeat there last season was a little flattering to Oxford, though indicative of how we were a bit toothless up front. Both their scorers, Henry with 2 penalties and Brannagan remain at the club, but I'm not aware of the strength of their line-up for this competition up to now or how they'll view this game given their league position and financial situation.
It will be interesting to see how we approach this game, given there must be some financial advantage to getting to Wembley, even without fans, while the postponement of the trip to Grimsby means that there has been a chance to re-charge our batteries and I think gives Keith Hill, the option to pick a stronger side. Promotion has got to remain the priority and with that in mind, my expectation would be that none of the backbone players; Clarke, Spearing or Vaughan start, though perhaps Vaughan to be an option off the bench given the shortage of striking options. Will Nugent be fit enough to start, if only ready for the bench at the weekend? If not, does Jake Burton get a go, or do we deploy a non-striker like Lloyd or Woolery to lead the line? Suspect probably the latter. Fitness permitting, elsewhere on the park, there's no reason not to use the same players who did so well against Peterborough.
It will be interesting to see how we approach this game, given there must be some financial advantage to getting to Wembley, even without fans, while the postponement of the trip to Grimsby means that there has been a chance to re-charge our batteries and I think gives Keith Hill, the option to pick a stronger side. Promotion has got to remain the priority and with that in mind, my expectation would be that none of the backbone players; Clarke, Spearing or Vaughan start, though perhaps Vaughan to be an option off the bench given the shortage of striking options. Will Nugent be fit enough to start, if only ready for the bench at the weekend? If not, does Jake Burton get a go, or do we deploy a non-striker like Lloyd or Woolery to lead the line? Suspect probably the latter. Fitness permitting, elsewhere on the park, there's no reason not to use the same players who did so well against Peterborough.