Rob Duffy is determined to make up for lost time when he returns to lead the Oxford United attack in today's FA Trophy first-round tie against Tonbridge Angels.

The Welsh striker, who finished as United's 21-goal top scorer last season, will be starting his first game since breaking an arm in the home match against York on September 30.

U's boss Darren Patterson goes back to the tried-and-trusted partnership of Duffy and Yemi Odubade up front, with loan signing Ashley Barnes dropping to the bench.

Duffy got a brief taste of action when he came off the bench in the second half of the midweek FA Cup replay at Southend, but this will be only his ninth start this season.

He said: "It's been a long time, I think 11 weeks altogether. It was nice to get back and be involved the other night.

"It's a role reversal really. Tonbridge are coming here in the same way that we went to Southend, as the underdogs and with nothing to lose, and nobody expecting them to win. We've got to make sure they don't go away with anything."

United are desperate to get back to winning ways after a bad week, but they have the boost of Carl Pettefer and Alex Jeannin returning from suspension.

"Before Northwich last week we went four unbeaten and we need to get another run going," said Duffy, who netted four goals in his eight starts earlier in the campaign.

"I showed last season that I can score a lot of goals in a short period of time," he said.

"I've been out for over two months now, but there's no reason why, once I've hit the back of the net, I can't go on a run myself."

It still angers Duffy that, in his previous home appearance, he had no sooner come on as a second-half sub - against Ebbsfleet - than he was trooping off again, 22 seconds later, after being harshly shown the red card.

"I'd worked hard to come back from my broken arm, I'd had a protective cast made to come back early," he said.

"I'm still disappointed about it, but it's gone now, I've served my suspension and everyone's looking forward, not back."

So many different combinations have been tried in attack, but Duffy and Odubade know each other's game well from dozens of appearances together last season.

He said: "It takes a while to learn each other's games, and I think through training and playing when we have, there's definitely a better understanding now than what there was this time last season."

For a striker like Duffy, a home game against a team two divisions below seems the perfect opportunity to get back on the goal trail.

"It's an ideal game for me to come back to personally, it's a cup game and hopefully there will be plenty of goals from everyone," he said.

But Patterson, who is naming his strongest possible team, warned against any complacency.

"This is a game, and a cup, that I want to win," he said. "We want to win everything we go in for.

"But we haven't got the quality of squad to be able to just turn it on and off, we have to graft.

And Patterson wants more too from Phil Trainer, who with Pettefer returning will move to the left side of midfield.

"We're looking for him (Trainer) to be better on the ball than he was on Tuesday night."

Oxford Utd: Turley, Clarke, Quinn, Foster, Jeannin, Ledgister, Hutchinson, Pettefer, Trainer, Odubade, Duffy. Subs from: Barnes, Corcoran, Warrell, Weedon, Rose, Fisher, Twigg, Day.

United Juniors' Christmas party at the Kassam Stadium takes place on Sunday.