Who's for a stuffing this Xmas?

I've just been given my list of games to cover this Christmas/New Year period for the paper.

I'll be working off the turkey and brussel sprouts on Boxing Day with a trip to Whaddon Road for the Cheltenham v Shrewsbury fixture and I'm looking forward to seeing the Robins play.

I 'bigged' them up earlier in the season as a smashing footballing side and - going on results and other press reports - it appears I was right .... for a change.

Mark Yates certainly has them building towards a promotion push, although admittedly it is still early days. Still, when you marry their league form to the plum revenue generating FA Cup 3rd round tie they have coming up away at Spurs, it makes you wonder whether it might give the board the financial security and belief in their manager to back him with a couple of key loan deals in the transfer window.

On December 30th I travel to ... er, Whaddon Road again for their tussle with Rotherham.

Both of these games look to be tight calls on paper, but I wouldn't be surprised if Yates uses the Tottenham tie as an incentive to wrack up points in the league (i.e., "if you play like a wally in these league games, don't expect a guaranteed place on the team bus to North London").

Then again, the squad isn't massive and so Yate's options are always going to be limited. And that is probably the key to any success in League Two. If they can keep their first choice fifteen or sixteen players fit all season, they certainly have the ability to have the green welly brigade of Gloucestershire in raptures come May.

The following day sees me off to Buckinghamshire to watch Wycombe take on Stevenage in what has already become a very important fixture in their hopes of League One survival.

The Chairboys may be second from bottom of the division, but like Cheltenham, they also have a good manager and a decent set of players. One win and they'll be out of the mire though and as long as they don't let that gap grow, I think they have the bottle to stay up.

From day one it was always going to be about survival for Wycombe and they knew it. This might prove an advantage later in the season when nerves start to fray at other clubs who had grander expectations.

My final match this festive season sees me take my New Year's hangover to see Oxford take on Crawley on January 2nd.

Oxford started brightly, but have suffered a few injuries to key players since I was last at the Kassam.

One noticeable absence was Michael Duberry who was excellent when I saw the side several times earlier in the campaign. For the sake of the club's promotion ambitions, I hope that he is making a good recovery and I get to see him lead Oxford to a promotion charge in the second half of the season.

Michael has already made himself a favourite with the Us faithful and I suspect they will forgive him anything given his obvious commitment to the cause, although as a neutral, I have to say that seeing him dressed as Princess Leia in photos from their Xmas 'do' certainly cut my breakfast short!

Link here for those who can stomach it! http://www.offthepost.info/blog/2011/12/the-most-disturbing-photo-of-2011-michael-duberry-dressed-as-princess-leia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+offthepost%2FTLAa+%28Off+The+Post%29

Happy Christmas to my readers and I hope you both have a great time and stay safe. Jeff