Oxford United could be boosted by the return of Greg Leigh this weekend when they play Carlisle United in Sky Bet League One, with several other first team players not too far behind.
Leigh has been unavailable since November after he picked up a calf injury whilst on international duty with Jamaica. However, he returned to full training today and, provided he suffers no reaction, could be in contention when the U’s head for Cumbria on Saturday.
The club also expect to have Josh Murphy, Sam Long and Stephan Negru available in the coming weeks.
Des Buckingham told us:
“With two cup games this week we have had a break from the league. We targeted Carlisle as the next phase of the campaign and a chance to really push on in the second half of the season. Hopefully, Greg is involved and, possibly, Josh Murphy as well. If not then, Josh, Sam and Stephan should be back in training the following week as we build towards Northampton at home.
“We are working on bringing in new faces this window as well so we will be getting stronger at what is a key stage of the season.
“Marcus Browne will still be out for another two or three months, but until recently we had eight senior players unavailable so hopefully we can draw a line under that and kick on from what is a strong league position.
“First, we have to focus on the Trophy and a difficult game at AFC Wimbledon. Two of our younger players, Josh Johnson and James Golding, could be available after injury and that gives us options in that competition as well. Win that and we are through to the Quarter-Finals so we’ll go with a strong squad.”