Barry Quinn, Oxford United's new captain, says the team are now ready to combat whatever opponents throw at them at the Kassam Stadium.

Last year many sides simply put men behind the ball and looked to try to catch the U's on the break, although today's visitors, Forest Green, played with free abandon and were deserving 2-0 winners last March.

Nearly all visiting teams, though, seem to relish playing at United's impressive stadium, in front of a big crowd, on an excellent pitch and with superb dressing-room facilities.

Quinn says: "We gained a lot of experience from what happened last year.

"The lads are going to be ready now, we know what it's going to be like, especially playing at home where teams maybe come and sit back against us, so we might change the way we play."

Earlier in the week, Quinn was a slight doubt for today's game, after coming off during Monday's friendly win against Birmingham when his brave block of a fierce drive left a knee shaking.

But he returned to training on Thursday, a day earlier than expected, and has fully recovered.

"Barry trained on Thursday, which is good news, and he'll be fine," Smith said. "Yemi (Odubade) is OK, but he's not had games."

The best striker Odubade can hope for appears to be a place on the bench.

At the back, Smith needs to select two from the three of Michael Corcoran, Matt Day and Arthur Gnohere to play alongside Quinn.

Luke Foster's versatility - being able to play in midfield or defence - may result in him kicking off as a sub.

Foster admitted: "I don't think I'll be starting, but if not, I'll be fighting hard to get a place in the side.

"The manager probably won't tell players the team until 1.30pm on Saturday - which keeps everyone on their toes."

Meanwhile, Quinn is delighted to be given the chance to lead out the teams, in the absence of the injured Phil Gilchrist.

"It's an honour to be team captain," he said.

"You want to take responsibility, of course, but on the pitch we need more voices, we need to be talking to each other, we need everyone to be a captain."