When Oxford United last played Boston United, in October, there were 19 places separating the teams.

Now there are four.

It is not just Oxford's poor form, but the Pilgrims' massive improvement, which makes today's Division 3 match at the Kassam Stadium another tough one for new boss Graham Rix.

The U's desperately need a victory to stop their season sliding into oblivion. Because, at their current rate, they will not even make the play-offs.

The stats do not make good reading.

It's 11 matches since Oxford scored two goals in a game; the Northampton and Mansfield games were the first time they had conceded two goals or more in successive matches for 14 months; they no longer have the best defensive record even in Division 3, let alone the Nationwide League.

Dumping Ian Atkins when he had got the team to fourth in the table doesn't look too clever right now.

And completely changing the way the team is set up is also being strongly criticised by the fans - the same fans, in some cases, who had been clamouring for a switch to a flat back four and wingers

Yet one good win can change everything, and if the brighter attacking play can bring about a convincing win today, that could get the players and supporters believing that auto- matic promotion, and not just the play-offs, is possible.

Boston are in 11th place, the highest league position in the club's history, and have won five out of the last seven games since Steve Evans took over as manager.

According to reports, incidentally, Rix also applied for the manager's job at Boston, but the chairman went for Evans, who he knew from his previous four-year spell as manager between 1998 and 2002.

There are two players in the Boston squad that Oxford fans will recognise - Mark Angel and Stuart Douglas.

Angel, who has not featured in the first team in the last four weeks, could be on the bench after coming through a reserve game this week.

But Douglas, who had an unhappy loan spell at the Kassam Stadium three years ago, looks likely to miss out

Boston used to have four or five former Oxford United players, but now there are just two. Jamie Cook and Ross Weatherstone are now at Stevenage, while Simon Weatherstone is at Yeovil.