Oxford United’s players are being urged to continue making use of the home advantage they have - by keep spreading the ball wide.

The U’s are looking for a fifth successive home victories today when they take on York City in the Blue Square Premier - three of those four wins coming in the league -and first-team coach Mickey Lewis says it’s key to use the full width of the pitch.

He said: “We’ve seen York play - I’ve had a report on them as well - and they’re a good passing team.

“We need to play the way we’ve played in the last few games, though, taking away the first half last Saturday.

“In the other games, we’ve got at people, closed people down and we’ve used the width much better.

“The thing with the Kassam Stadium is that we’ve got a big pitch here and when we’ve got the ball we need to keep possession and then keep it as wide as we can.

“York are a good team, but I honestly believe, if we do that and do it consistently, then I don’t think we’re too worried about who we play really.

“If we’d got a third goal against Hayes & Yeading, we could have got five or six.

“It’s vital that we keep picking up points at home, where we are playing well.

“Defensively, we’re getting there. That was a big thing last week to get a clean sheet, no matter who it’s against.”

Skipper Joe Burnell returns after missing two matches with a calf injury, and he may come in at right back with James Clarke injured.

Manager Darren Patterson also has the option of bringing back Matt Day, while Chris Willmott continues in place of the sidelined Barry Quinn, who is out for two weeks with an ankle injury.

Whatever the result today, Lewis is confident the U’s will be in the mix, challenging for a play-off place or better - at the end of the season.

“We’ll be fine, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“It helps everybody that it’s such an open league because last year, Aldershot were so far ahead.”

Patterson believes his team are really enjoying playing at the Kassam Stadium.

“The pitch is good, the surface is good, you’ve got a fan base which is generally behind you, the players should enjoy playing here and I think they do now,” he said.

“Yes, they got a bit of stick last week for that first half, but I thought it was justified.

“The results against the better teams have really lifted self-belief,” he said.

York, tenth in the table, are not in bad form. They have won two and drawn one of their last three league games.

Oxford Utd: (from) Turley, Burnell, Foster, Willmott, Carruthers, Haldane, Murray, Trainer, Deering, Constable, Guy, Day, Hinchliffe, Taylor, Hutchinson, Odubade, Taylor, Groves.

York City: (from) Ingham, Kelly, Parslow, McGurk, Purkiss, Rusk, Wilkinson, Holmes, Robinson, McBreen, Farrell, Brodie, Greaves, Russell, Mimms, Boyes, Shepherd, McWilliams, Rothery.