Pittman eyeing United spot
Oxford striker Jon-Paul Pittman is pushing for inclusion against Morecambe after a goalscoring run out in midweek.
The former Crawley and Wycombe forward has been missing since December after undergoing surgery following a dislocated shoulder at Accrington.
But he netted in the 3-2 win over Banbury in the Oxford Senior Cup semi-final on Tuesday night as he continued his comeback from injury.
There were also run outs for the likes of Michael Duberry, Luke O'Brien and Simon Heslop as they staked their claims for first-team spots.
The U's remain without long-term injury victims Ryan Clarke (shoulder), Justin Richards (knee) and Peter Leven (knee).
Oxford's play-off hopes were dealt a huge blow by the 1-0 defeat to Northampton which leaves them six points behind seventh-placed Rotherham.
Morecambe welcome back influential forward Kevin Ellison for the trip.
Ellison has completed a two-match ban for collecting 10 booking this season, leaving boss Jim Bentley to contend with a raft of injury problems in defence.
Will Haining and Andy Parrish remain doubtful with respective hamstring and thigh complaints and are set to be joined on the sidelines by Nick Fenton.
That means Bentley could be without three of his recognised centre-backs and brings 18-year-old Chris Doyle into contention for his full Football League debut.
Doyle replaced Fenton midway through the first half of last weekend's 2-0 defeat at AFC Wimbledon, adding to his debut cameo in the 3-0 home triumph against Rochdale at the start of this month.
Source: PA
