The first thing Oxford United must try to do against Burton Albion on Sunday is put the ball in the net.

Victory is the ultimate aim, of course, to maintain their push for a play-off place.

But before they can even think of that, they need to find a way of scoring against the Brewers, and they have not done that in two previous games this season.

The opening League Two match of the season at the Pirelli Stadium on August 7 was a 0-0 draw.

The sides met again in the first round of the FA Cup three months later, and on that occasion Burton won 1-0.

In the league game, although it was a competitive affair and reasonably entertaining, Oxford mustered just one shot on target.

In the FA Cup tie, they managed only two, compared to Burton’s eight.

However, it was not the strikeforce that the U’s have at the moment.

In the first encounter, for example, United had on-loan Chelsea striker Danny Philliskirk on for more than a quarter of the game.

And in the cup clash, James Con-stable had been taken ill, so the U’s started off with Matt Green and Tom Craddock up front in a rare 4-4-2 formation.

The only other team that Oxford have faced twice this season and not scored against are Gillingham.

If there is an omen . . . the U’s also failed to find the net in their first two games against Aldershot this season – losing 2-0 in the John-stone’s Paint Trophy and 1-0 at home in the league – but did win at the third time of asking, 2-1 away in the return league game.

The FA Cup, which began with that win over Oxford, proved to be good financially for Burton, but bad for their league position.

They went on to beat current League Two leaders Chesterfield in the second round, and Champion-ship club Middlesbrough in the third, before eventually bowing out to Burnley in the fourth.

But the Cup run resulted in a backlog of league fixtures, and the league wins dried up.

United’s 15-goal top scorer James Constable will be boosted, however, by his brace against Crewe at the Kassam Stadium last Saturday.

Back in August, giant centre half Darren Moore, a man mountain of a centre half, had him in his pocket.

No longer the quickest defender around, by any means, Moore makes up for that with his experience and great positional sense.

However, United arguably have more mobile and quicker forwards now, and Constable will have learned from that opening match, and be eager to continue his own goal quest.

Moore won the PFA Player in the Community Award at the 2011 Foot-ball League awards last Sunday.

But Burton themselves have not won for four games and have been growing increasingly concerned about their league position.