Lundstram and Nelson set to return at Roots Hall
Oxford United travel to Southend for a second time this season as the Checkatrade Trophy reaches the knockout stages on Tuesday evening.
The U’s came through a group that included Chelsea Under21s, Swindon and Exeter and now travel to Roots Hall looking to improve after being held to a draw away at Macclesfield in the FA Cup on Friday.
“There will be different personnel, but I can pick ten, 11 or 12 things from Friday night that I want them to be better at on Tuesday” Michael Appleton told Yellow Player HD. “John Lundstram will come back into the side, Curtis Nelson is fit again, but Joe Skarz won’t be available, so there will be changes. Performance wise it is important. Our priority is to make sure we are really competitive in League 1 but we know and understand that the cup competitions have been good to us and if we can stay in them then it is going to be a boost going forward.
“We had an idea what the two teams would be for Friday and Tuesday. With hindsight we could say we picked the wrong team on Friday but hindsight is a wonderful thing and you have to give players their opportunities because if you don’t do that then you never know what you are missing, or not missing!
“There were a few things on Friday that the players will have learned massively from and the good thing is that we still have an opportunity to learn those lessons and put it right. You never know, if we get a fantastic name out of the hat tonight for the Third Round then that is huge motivation for the replay. But that can wait. For now we will just channel all our energies into Southend and getting through in that competition.”
See the full interview, including Michael’s thoughts on loanees Tyler Roberts and Dan Crowley in Yellow Player HD where we also have the thoughts of Aaron Martin and the whole game live.