Fleetwood Town boss expects a stern test against Oxford United

Two of last season’s play-off hopefuls meet at Highbury with the visitors finding themselves in the relegation places.

Town’s head coach feels that is a bit of a false position but doesn’t want a result against his side to be the spark that gets them going.

Barton said: “There’s no doubt about it, they’re a top-10 side who are probably suffering a little bit like we did from a play-off hangover.

“They’ve lost a couple of players. (Rob) Dickie went to QPR and then the decent loan signings you get go back to their parent clubs and they’re tough to renegotiate for.

“They’re in a tough spot and I watched the game against Charlton, and they were probably the better side up until the latter stages of the game.

“If you were watching the game as a neutral there was only going to be one winner and it wasn’t Charlton.

“They’re dangerous because they’re sitting second from bottom at the minute and I think that type of team can be very dangerous.

“They’ve almost got nothing to lose and it’ll be a couple of results here and there that kickstarts their season.

“We’re hoping that it’s not this weekend, that’s the key for us.

“We’ve got a good record against Oxford, I don’t think they’ve ever beaten us and we aim to continue that on Saturday to continue our upward trajectory.”

Town go into this afternoon’s match with almost a clean bill of health among the playing staff.

However, as Barton outlined, a couple of his midfielders won’t be in line to feature.

“(Jay) Matete is going to miss the game,” he said.

“It’s not too bad, we think he’s going to be less than two weeks.

“He didn’t train on Friday so I don’t think he’s going to be fit. He’s got an outside chance for the (Charlton Athletic) game on Tuesday night.

“Jordan Rossiter is not quite there yet, he just needs some games.

“He’s a year in now and he looks like he’s back to real strength on the training ground, so it’s just a case of finding the right games to get him back involved.

“He’s going to be like a new signing for us, he was our best player for us before he got injured last season.

“Certainly from what I’m seeing in training, we’re really excited about getting him back and him impacting the first team.”

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