Oxford United will wait until the last minute before deciding if Paul Tait takes his place in the starting line-up for today's crucial relegation battle with Scunthorpe at the Manor Ground.

Tait has a bruised foot and faces a late fitness test with boss Denis Smith admitting it will be touch-and-go whether the midfielder makes it.

Doubts remain about centre back Mark Watson, but there is better news about Joey Beauchamp who came through training yesterday and is expected to be on the bench. "It will be a very late decision on whether Tait makes it," Smith admitted. "Mark Watson trained with the rest of the squad, but he wasn't 100 per cent either."

Meanwhile, Scunthorpe boss Brian Laws has had his players training on a slope in preparation for the crunch clash. The Manor has one of the steepest gradients of any pitch in the country, approximately six feet from the corner of Cuckoo Lane and Osler Road to the corner of London Road and Beech Road.

Asked how his players had got on, Laws replied: "Well, they did OK going downhill!".

Scunthorpe need to beat Oxford and beat Burnley in their final game, and if Oxford beat them they are almost certainly relegated.

Laws said: "We've come to the end of the line. We've come to a brick wall and it's up to us to leap over it or go crashing into it."

See This is United for latest news and the Scunthorpe match report