OXFORD United boss Malcolm Shotton has issued a simple instruction to his players before their crunch relegation battle against Crewe at the Manor tomorrow.

"Be more clinical," he ordered, ". . .at both ends."

United's manager said: "We're making chances but we've got to be more clinical in front of goal. And at the other end, we've got to be more clinical at clearing the ball from our box."

Shotton hopes to have striker Andy Thomson back following the thigh strain which forced him to miss last weekend's home game against Sheffield United.

The U's manager will not be able to decide on what system to use until he knows the personnel available, so will probably again try out both a flat back four and a three-man central defence in training today.

Christophe Remy remains sidelined and Nicky Banger is still too short of match fitness to be considered.

Crewe have not won in the league since August 28, ten games ago, and they have lost four on the spin. But Mark Rivers is a classy player and West Indian Rodney Jack's goalscoring record of nearly 30 goals in around 90 games for his former club Torquay means he needs to be watched carefully.

Crewe played with five at the back to combat Premiership club Blackburn in the Worthington Cup on Wednesday, and lost 1-0, but are expected to revert to 4-4-2.

"With both sides low on confidence, the first goal will be very important," said United director Maurice Evans, who spied on Crewe last week.

If Thomson is fit to return, Matt Murphy could drop back into midfield where there is a vacancy with Martin Gray suspended for one game.

Murphy said: "I'm just hoping I can get a chance and bury it to make up for ones I should have scored against Bury and Sheffield United.

"At Bury I hit the post but should have scored and the game had gone so long with us missing four or five good chances that we started to get worried. Last Saturday I got a bit of a stumble when i went round the keeper but I still know I should have scored.

"It's all about getting a goal, getting all the lads' confidence up and getting a bit of distance between us and our opponents and then we can settle down and hopefully go on and get a few goals.

"Crewe is a very, very big game for us, it's more or less a six-pointer and it's one where everyone is expecting us to do a lot better than we did last week."

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