Oxford United will not take anything for granted when they host Hereford United at the Kassam Stadium tomorrow.

When they won 2-0 at Edgar Street on September 11 – with Tom Craddock scoring a sublime first goal for the club, with the outside of his right foot – they played well, and Hereford looked poor.

But The Bulls have changed managers since, and new boss Jamie Pit-man has put fire in his players’ bellies.

A 3-0 win at Cheltenham a fortnight ago shows how far Hereford have come.

Indeed, they have won more away games this season (6) than Oxford (5), and those include 2-1 at Aldershot, 4-3 at Lincoln, 1-0 at Wycombe and 3-1 at Torquay, as well as the Cheltenham success, since the turn of the year.

U’s boss Chris Wilder, who saw their 1-1 draw with Northampton, said: “They are not to be under-estimated. I took time out to go and watch them on Tuesday.

“In a tight game, I think they’ll be a little bit disappointed they didn’t win it, which is testament to how far they’ve come in a short space of time under the new management.

“They’re well capable of going anywhere in the country and winning.”

Oxford, eighth in npower League Two, are in the middle of a spate of away games.

Tomorrow’s match is one of only two home games at home during a sequence of nine league fixtures between Feb-ruary 1 and March 12.

And next week sees a return to long away trips with games at Lincoln and Stockport on Tuesday and Saturday.

Several players have come and gone from Hereford since September.

Said Wilder: “Mathieu Manset did really well when Jamie first took over and a few might have thought their results might dip when he went.

“But they have a group of very hard-working players that try to pass and play.

“The front two of Waide Fairhurst and Stuart Fleetwood, I know.

“Fleetwood’s done well in this league and had a promotion with Exeter.

“They’ve got experience in the middle of the pitch in Kenny Lunt, and good young players that they’ve brought in on loan, so he’s changed it around a bit.

“Jamie was a very combative, energetic, enthusiastic footballer.

“You look at his team and they’re very much in the same mould as how he was as a player – give it a go, and they’ll definitely do that on Saturday.”

BRADFORD manager Peter Taylor will leave the League Two club by mutual consent following tomorrow’s home game with Stockport.

Under Taylor, 58, the Bantams have slipped to 21st in the table, six points above the relegation zone, after a run of one win in their last nine league games.