Hall Right Now

Oxford United’s preparations for Saturday’s Sky Bet League 1 game at Charlton have been boosted by the return to training of several key players.

Top scorer Wes Thomas missed the Checkatrade Trophy game at Chelsea with a minor hamstring problem but has trained all week and was today joined by fellow striker Jon Obika, who has recovered from a similar problem he suffered at Stamford Bridge and is expected to be involved at the Valley this weekend.

Joe Rothwell has also been back in full training this week while Alex Mowatt should be available after fracturing a bone in his hand during the last home game against Bury.

Long term absentee Ivo Pekalski is also in full training after missing the season so far with a knee injury while today saw forward Rob Hall involved in the training session for the first time since injuring a knee in November.

“It’s been a very positive week” Caretaker boss Derek Fazackerley told iFollow earlier. “The new signings have been good, we have held on to one or two that other clubs were looking at, and with players coming back from injury we have decent competition all over the park.”

See the full interview with Faz in iFollow where we also have Simon Eastwood and John Mousinho looking ahead to Saturday’s big game.