FOOTBALL: We need to get more horrible – Patto

7:33pm Friday 15th August 2008

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Oxford United boss Darren Patterson will be ordering his defence not to drop so deep when they take on Eastbourne Borough at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday as they hope to make it third time lucky.

He said: "We need to be a bit more horrible all over the pitch. The back four have dropped a bit too deep so far and we need to make it a lot harder than that for teams.

"We did a lot of work on that in training on Thursday and looked a lot better."

Patterson is expected to play James Constable and Yemi Odubade up front again, with Levi Reid on the right wing, though Sam Deering is challenging hard, especially with Reid often struggling to last games through fitness.

James Clarke sits out the second of his three-game ban, so Matt Day will probably continue as his replacement at right back.

Eastbourne are set to be unchanged following their surprise 3-1 win at Stevenage.

Oxford Utd: (from) Cole, Day, Quinn, Foster, Carruthers, Reid, Burnell, Murray, Haldane, Odubade, Constable, Hinchliffe, Hutchinson, Deering, Fisher, Husbands, Taylor, Guy.

Eastbourne Boro: (from) Hook, Austin, Jenkins, Pullan, Baker, Armstrong, Smart, Harding, M Crabb, Atkin, Tait, Lovett, Winterton, N Crabb, Wormull, Sigere, S Crabb.

Supporters group OxVox are holding an open pre-match meeting in the Landmark room upstairs in the South Stand (1.15pm) before today's game. Entrance is free.