Bristol Rovers v Oxford

I'm off to the Mem again tomorrow, but I'll need to wear my neutral hat as another of the teams from my 'patch', Oxford, are the visitors.

And Rovers boss Marck McGhee has revealed that injured Aussie loan defender Aaron Downes did a scouting job on Oxford in their win over Dagenham this week and came back with a comprehensive report so there shouldn't be any surprises in store for the Gas.

Defender Gary Sawyer has joined Downes, Adam Virgo and Wayne Brown in the treatment room as Rovers plan to bounce back following a 1-0 reverse at Shreswbury on Tuesday evening.

Oxford will be without several key players themselves as they look to chase down bitter rivals Swindon who see to be on the march towards League One.

Forward threats Jon-Paul Pittman, Tom Craddock and Alfie Potter - who broke an ankle in training - will be missing along with defender Tony Capaldi, alkthough the latter has yet to make his debut since making a summer move to the Kassam from Morecambe.

However, Oxford's defence has served them fairly well this season when marshalled by former Chelsea player Michael Duberry - someone whose attitude and commitment to the cause has been quite refreshing to see and a lesson to any other top player dropping down the divisions with age. He has also managed to maintain fitness levels that are the envy of most bof his team mates (not to mention the old sweats in the Press Box like me!).

It's shaping up to be one hell of a battle for the automatic promotion places and the play-off places in League Two this season and if Rovers can shriug off the defeat against Shrewsbury, I wouldn't yet bet against them sneaking into the end-of-season knock out competition.

I'm sure that the Oxford fans would like to see the Us go straight up, but a play-off spot would represent yet another step forward under current manager Chris Wilder.

So this might not be the last time this season these two teams play each other and if they make it to Wembley I'll happily turn up as just a fan - of who though, I just don't know.