Oxford United have a score to settle when they take on Peter Taylor’s Bradford City tomorrow after the 5-0 drubbing they received in Yorkshire last October.

That scoreline was very much a one-off for Oxford, though.

It was their heaviest defeat of the season, indeed their heaviest under Chris Wilder, but it’s easy to forget that it was 0-0 at half-time.

Then everything seemed to go wrong for the U’s in the second half, as they had both Jake Wright and Mark Creighton sent off, the Bant-ams’ James Hanson also seeing red.

“It’s just another game for us,” stressed Wilder.

“We never beat ourselves up about the game there because for the first part of it, we were in control.

“Fair play to Bradford, just after half-time they put a great ball into the box and scored from that, and it gave them a big lift.

“Then Omar Daley scored from 25 yards on the counter-attack, and there was a penalty, a couple of individual mistakes, two sendings-off – and the game was done and dusted really.

“We were just a bit naive. We should possibly have shut up shop and swallowed a 2-0 defeat.

“But I think at the time we had Beano, Matt Green, Tom Craddock, – four or five forward players on the pitch –and we got overrun. Fair play to them on the day.

“It’s another match for us to go and win. We’ve done great the last two games.”

Daley looked a very accomplished player in the match at Bradford, and he will need to be watched.

United midfielder Asa Hall, who has got his place back in the team, said: “The game there was bizarre, very strange.

“When you go down to nine players, it’s very difficult.

“But we definitely owe them one and it’s good that they’re coming to play us back here.”

The back-to-back away wins at Torquay and Aldershot have produced a feel-good factor among Oxford’s players.

Hall said: “We’ve put in some good team performances, it’s been a real effort, and we’ve got some good results.

“It’s been nice to get away results, but we do feel we need to improve at home.

“We’ve got a home game to look forward to, and hopefully we can do it again here.”

Hall lost his place after the home defeat by Torquay in November, but then got it back again, only to lose it again after the 2-1 home win over Barnet.

But he’s aware that it is not easy to hold down a place over the whole season, with the quality of the squad at Oxford.

Yet he does wish he would break his duck in front of goal soon!

“When you lose your place at a club like this, with such a good squad, it’s very difficult to get back in,” he said.

“When you do get a chance to play, it’s nice for results to go for you as well.

“It’s nice to get a run in the team.

“Yes, getting that first goal is on my mind all the time, because I’m itching to score. But if we’re winning, and pushing up the league, that’s what matters.”