After
an excellent first few games, things seem to have fallen apart
slightly in recent weeks. And with confidence and morale reaching a
new low after Saturday's mauling
at the hands of Burton Albion, another tricky away tie in quick
succession is probably the last thing we needed.
However,
Cheltenham also seem to be stuck in a rut of their own. Last year's
beaten play-off finalists seem to be suffering from a hangover and
have picked up just eight points this season, currently finding
themselves in 15th
place. They have only won once at home this season from four games
and come into this match on the back of a 3-1 home defeat to
Southend. Cheltenham have yet to win in September (we at least have a
JPT
win under our belts this month) and seem to have been undone by
some poor defensive performances. It would be a foolish gambler who
puts money on this one finishing goalless, with Oxford conceding 11
in their last three games and Cheltenham conceding seven.
Both
sides will have important players returning. Chris Zebroski will be
available for selection for Cheltenham after missing the Southend
game with illness, while for us James Constable returns from his ban
and Jake Forster-Caskey will hopefully have recovered from an illness
of his own.
There
are a couple of familiar faces in the Cheltenham ranks. First, the
aforementioned Chris Zebroski – according to Rage
Online the only player whose last name begins with a Z to pull on
the yellow shirt – who made ten appearances in the 2006-07 season.
Zebroski has scored goals everywhere else he's been, but failed to
make an impact at Oxford. His most telling contribution was a missed
penalty in the play-off semi-final against Exeter. Another familiar
face is that of Sam Deering. Deering got his first break in
professional football at Oxford and was a regular member of the team
during the Conference years, before being released at the end of the
2010-11 season and joining Barnet. He acquitted himself reasonably
well there and earned himself a move to Cheltenham, where he has so
far been a regular.
Cheltenham
are another of those sides that we have struggled to beat in recent
years. We haven't won against the Robins since 2005, a run which
stretches for seven games. Last season a high-flying Cheltenham
turned up at the Kassam to deliver a 3-1 beating, but the two sides
ground out a 0-0 draw at Whaddon Road in their last meeting. Mark
Yates seems to have the measure over Wilder; the two managers have
met 13 times and Wilder has emerged victorious just once, back in
2006
(Wilder's record against Yates: DWLLLLLDLDDLD).
From the Vaults
Oxford United v Cheltenham Town, 2nd August 2008
Oxford
fans are becoming increasingly disgruntled at the moment with the
current run of form and perceived lack of progress being made at the
club. But cast your minds back a few years to when things were REALLY
bad: when Cheltenham visited the Kassam in a glamorous pre-season
friendly.
You can find this and many other old Oxford matches on our Video Vault page.
0 comments:
Post a Comment