United Women take on Bristol City on Saturday evening following their summer break
After a month-long break, Oxford return to FA Women's Super League 2 action this weekend with a trip to Bristol City on Saturday evening. The U's had won their previous three games before the break, finishing with a 2-0 home win over Watford for a third consecutive clean sheet.
Coach Jonny Edmunds, who takes charge of the team this weekend in the absence of manager Les Taylor, is hopeful that United can pick up where they left off. He said: “Although Les isn't here, our preparation is exactly the same and we'll have the same gameplan. I think the players went away after the Watford game happy with their performances over the last few games. I think possibly the break just came a little too early for us because we were just beginning to hit our best form, but it's offered everyone a chance to reflect and to refresh themselves.”
Defender Rosie Lane and Laura Nichol have made the most of the time off to recover from injuries which had ruled them out of the previous game. The only absentee this weekend is defender Katja Hakala, who is in Finland.
That means United will be forced to make one change to the back four which kept Watford at bay, with the U's putting their excellent recent defensive record on the line against a Bristol side looking to secure promotion back to WSL 1 at the first attempt. A pair of defeats from their last two matches has left City three points adrift of league leaders Yeovil, but Jonny expects a tough encounter on Saturday.
“There are a few teams I expect to be up there come the end of the season and Bristol are one of those,” he said. “They lost to Sheffield last time out, which they will have been disappointed with, so I expect they'll want to put things right.
“We're certainly not getting carried away with our recent form. We're not going to shout from the rooftops that we've won our last three games. We're just going to keep our heads down and go about our business and hopefully get the right result.”
As ever, if you're unable to make it to the match you can follow all the action live via @OfficialOUWFC on Twitter.
The U's return to The Northcourt next week, on Thursday 30th June, at home to league leaders Yeovil Town. Secure your place for the run-in with a half-season ticket, available for just £15 from www.OxfordUnitedWFC.co.uk.