Oxford United’s Caretaker Manager Derek Fazackerley will be looking for his side to show mental and physical strength this Saturday when they travel to AFC Wimbledon in Skybet League 1.
The U’s were left without a game last weekend due to the weather but showed plenty of fighting spirit last time out when they drew at Northampton Town.
“The game being called off prevented us from playing at home and maybe collecting three points but you don’t have to go too far back to the Northampton game where we picked up a point away at a side who play in a similar way to Wimbledon, quite direct, quite physical and at a tight ground” Faz told iFollow earlier. “It’s a place we need to go and get something from.
“It will be just as tough but we have to show that we are mentally and physically strong. We are going to have to compete but it’s also similar to Northampton in that we want to keep at least the point that we go with, because that keeps the distance the same between us. Wimbledon maybe haven’t been having a great time so we have to go there and look to get a good result and three points if we can.
“Generally away we have been strong: the win at Charlton, Rotherham where we played OK and Northampton where we got a draw. Sometimes there is a little less pressure when you are playing away from home although we know we are going to be tested and that we need to start a little bit better. You can’t afford to go behind early because it’s extremely difficult to come back from that.”
There are unlikely to be too many changes to the squad despite Ivo Pekalski stepping up his comeback with 70 minutes in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup at Oxford City on Tuesday.
“That game was a good opportunity for Ivo to get game time” Faz said. “The same for Josh Ashby, Canice and Malachi. I don’t think it made much difference to who is available. We have a reasonable amount of players fit although Curtis Nelson, Robbie Hall and Joe Rothwell are all very good players and not available right now. But Cameron Brannagan is back and is competing for a midfield place so that means we are strong in that area and hopefully we can pick the right team to get a positive result from this game.”
See the whole interview plus the thoughts of Simon Eastwood in iFollow where we will also have the whole game LIVE