Goalkeeper Ryan Clarke has been in the middle of a fierce derby battle before, and says that Swindon was the first match he looked for back in June when the fixtures came out.

The teams go head to head for the first time in more than ten years at the County Ground on Sunday, where the U’s are aiming to end 38 years of hurt, having not won at Swindon since February 4, 1973 when they triumphed 3-1 with goals from Dave Roberts, the late Nigel Cassidy and Hugh Curran.

Clarke was at Bristol Rovers when they took on City and says that the occasions were always huge games.

“I’ve been involved in a couple of Bristol derbies, and they were great atmospheres and pretty lively, shall we say,” the U’s No 1 commented.

“The match against Swindon was the first I looked for.

“I was pretty surprised to see it just four games into the season, but why not, let’s do it.

“We are all desperate to go there and try and get the win for the supporters.”

Clarke admitted he was shocked when Paolo Di Canio was appointed as manager in the summer.

“I think the whole football world was surprised he’s ended up at Swindon,” Clarke said.

“But he’s obviously had an effect there as he’s made a good start.

“But we’re not worried about their manager and what he does, we’re focused on ourselves.”

Aside from pushing over a referee, Di Canio is remembered for his famous scissors-kick goal for West Ham against Wimbledon.

But Clarke would surely have saved that?

“Yeah, no problem at all,” he said. “If I’d have had about four seconds notice of where it was going!”

Also experiencing his first Oxford v Swindon derby is summer signing Deane Smalley and the summer capture from Oldham says he can’t wait for Sunday’s game.

He added: “Since I arrived here that’s all the fans have talked about – the Swindon game is the one they look forward to.

“Hopefully we will be able to give them something to cheer about on Sunday. We didn’t start thinking about it until after the Shrewsbury game.”

Smalley has yet to break his scoring duck for the U’s, but he is confident that first goal will arrive soon.

“I haven’t put a specific target on the number of goals I want because that won’t do me any good.

“Hopefully, if it’s not on Sunday, then it will be the game after that. I’m looking to score every time.”

“I have played in a few derbies against Stockport at Oldham, so I’m hoping we will put on a good performance against Swindon.”