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Sheffield Wednesday come into Saturday’s game hoping to finally break into the top two of the League One table, having consistently kept pace with the leaders throughout the campaign thus far but failed to climb any further in recent weeks as a result of consecutive draws.
Darren Moore‘s side strengthened their position in the fight for promotion with three straight victories over Burton Albion, Accrington Stanley and Shrewsbury Town, taking a league unbeaten run to seven matches and moving onto 40 points from 19 outings in England’s third tier.
They were unable to make that four on the bounce away at Derby County at the beginning of December though, eventually leaving with a relatively pleasing point following a goalless stalemate, before travelling to Exeter City last weekend with the aim of making an instant return to winning ways and ramping up the pressure on Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town in the top two.
That did not go to plan, as Jake Caprice put their hosts ahead early in the second half, and the Owls looked set to fall to just a fourth defeat of the season in League One, only to salvage a point deep into injury time courtesy of Callum Paterson‘s leveller.
While they failed to take advantage of Plymouth’s continued lack of form, Moore’s side do now find themselves just two points behind the second-placed Pilgrims, and they will now look to put another triumph on the board with the chance of climbing into the automatic promotion spots at the weekend.
That will be no easy task, though, as the visitors are also unbeaten in seven games in League One, having bounced back from a tough start to the campaign in which they only picked up 14 points from the opening 13 outings.
The U’s would start to climb towards the middle of the table with a win away at Bolton Wanderers and draws against Portsmouth, Fleetwood Town and Shrewsbury Town, before making it six league wins for the campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of Port Vale in mid-November.
Following a first-round win over Woking and another League One draw against Forest Green Rovers, Karl Robinson‘s side would then triumph in the FA Cup second round at home to Exeter City in late November, eventually winning 4-1 thanks to a Billy Bodin brace and goals from Matt Taylor and Cameron Brannagan to book an exciting tie at home to Arsenal in the new year.
Sheffield Wednesday will remain without Ben Heneghan and George Byers due to injury issues, while they will also likely face the absence of talismanic captain Barry Bannan, who was forced off in the first half of their Exeter contest.
Tyreeq Bakinson could come into the midfield in his and Byers’s absence, unless Moore opts to deploy another attacking player given the depth in his squad, with Callum Paterson vying to start after his equaliser, as are Lee Gregory and Mallik Wilks, while Michael Smith and Josh Windass have both been key men up front throughout the season thus far.
Cardiff City loanee Mark McGuinness could again be joined by Reece James and Liam Palmer in a back three in front of David Stockdale, with Marvin Johnson and Dominic Iorfa set to continue in wing-back roles.
Oxford United’s attack will again be spearheaded by experienced forward Matt Taylor, while winger Billy Bodin will be pushing to come back in from the outset, having notched up six goals and three assists in all competitions so far this term.
Cameron Brannagan is another key source of goals, with the midfielder boasting nine thus far including six in 19 League One appearances this season, while Marcus Browne should add another creative spark going forward and will likely complete the front three.
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Stockdale; Palmer, McGuinness, James; Iorfa, Dele-Bashiru, Vaulks, Johnson; Windass; Smith, Gregory
Oxford United possible starting lineup:
Eastwood; Anderson, Moore, Findlay, Brown; Bate, Brannagan, McGuane; Bodin, Taylor, Browne
In the week that the Bulls lost their most famous ex-player, FA Cup legend Ronnie Radford – 50 years on from his iconic match-winning goal against Newcastle – it briefly looked like there might be some left-over magic in the air.
For seven minutes, the sixth-tier outfit led after Miles Storey’s goal against the team 81 places above them in the English football pyramid in League One.
But Pompey hit back, with Reeco Hackett quickly levelling before second-half goals from Colby Bishop and substitute Joe Pigott earned the twice FA Cup winners a safe passage to Monday’s second-round draw
Making their first trip to Edgar Street in 38 years, Pompey were given a good first-half workout by the fired-up hosts.
Although home keeper Dale Eve had to keep out Hackett’s left-foot curler bound for the top corner, Pompey had a first real scare when Bishop’s challenge on Hereford’s former million-pound marksman Tyrone Barnett in the visitors’ penalty box went unpunished.
And there was worse to follow for Pompey when Hereford took the lead on 26 minutes.
Sean Raggett played a loose pass inside to Hackett, who was immediately closed down and robbed by Storey – and the former Pompey player raced away down the inside-left channel before keeping his cool to nutmeg on-loan West Bromwich Albion keeper Josh Griffiths.
Fittingly, just two days on from the announcement of the sad passing of Hereford’s legendary number 11, their modern-day number 11 emulated his predecessor.
There had already been a minute’s silence, which cascaded into applause from the whole ground, followed by chants of ‘there’s only one Ronnie Radford’ when the clock showed 11 minutes.
But this goal was destined not to prove so famous.
Ronan Curtis headed down Connor Ogilvie’s far-post cross for Hackett to bring down and fire home coolly from six yards.
On 63 minutes, Portsmouth took the lead when, from Clark Robertson’s in-swinging right-foot corner from the left, Bishop timed his run to get there first and head his 10th goal of the season.
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And Pigott wrapped up victory 10 minutes from time when, again from a corner by skipper Robertson, Bishop won the initial header before Pigott reacted sharpest to sidefoot home
Hereford FC boss Josh Gowling told BBC Sport:
“I’m really disappointed because we should have got something out of it, but goals change games – and the quality of the delivery they have changes games.
“In the first half we were excellent. We were in the ascendancy and they looked nervous.
“We were on top and looked like we could go on and win, but we’ve made one mistake, it has cost us a goal and that’s the difference in levels.
“We’ve given them a leg up and a little lift and you could see their performance raise after that.”
Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley told BBC Sport:
“I was so sad to hear the news about Ronnie Radford. He was such an iconic figure and he had that iconic moment. For a lot of people my age, his famous goal was their first memories of the FA Cup. But what a brilliant night to celebrate his life