United are at home to Weymouth on Saturday afternoon, looking to build on three clean sheets and two home wins in the last three games. The U's are currently fifth, two points behind leaders Crawley, and aiming to close the gap again this week.

Weymouth, where former U's assistant manager Alan Lewer is no.2 to John Hollins, are currently 14th on 20 points after a good run of form following a mixed start to the season.

Team News

Mark Beesley made his comeback against Lewes on Tuesday and almost scored twice, but the squad has been affected by a 'flu bug and Gary Brabin will wait until after training on Friday to decide upon his team.

Danny Potter has missed training since Tuesday's game and Danny Brown has not trained all week, while Anthony Tonkin, who had just got over a bout of gastroenteritis, has also been unwell since Tuesday's game.

"But apart from that, everyone's great!" said Brabin ruefully. "I'm working with the lads who are fit and able to play and we're preparing for the game, and we'll wait and see how everyone is after training on Friday.

"It's too soon to make a decision on Danny Potter but if he can't play then Steven Drench is a good pro," said Brabin, who signed Drench for Southport in the summer and then brought the former Blackburn 'keeper to Cambridge on loan when his former club reverted to a part-time status.

"He's been here now for a few weeks working with the lads and he's trained really hard, and I don't have to ask him to do anything in case Danny Potter can't play," commented the manager. "I know he's always prepared properly for every game anyway so he'll be ready if he's needed, but we'll see first how Danny is."

With United having only scored twice in the last three games, Brabin is growing used to answering questions about his strikeforce and he backed his players while pointing out the positives from Tuesday's game.

"I'll see who's fit on Friday afternoon and make some decisions then. I've got a few ideas but I was happy with the team that played on Tuesday. We created loads of chances and on another night Mark Beesley could have put two of those chances away. He looked sharp and showed that we really missed him.

"I thought Lee McEvilly was back on form again and he was competing against the centre-halves and winning headers as well as looking like a goal threat, and he was unlucky on a couple of occasions. I really do believe we've got goals in us and I was made up with the chances we created."

The Opposition

Weymouth are currently mid-table in 14th place, and they arrive on a good run of form - unbeaten in four games and only one defeat in their last six games.

Gary Brabin thinks their late equaliser at home against United in August was a turning point in their season and he knows the Terras will be a more attacking force than Lewes on Tuesday.

"They're no mugs; they were up at the top of the league a few weeks ago and they've got some good players. Teams do concentrate on defending a bit more when they come to our ground but I don't think Weymouth will get everyone behind the ball. I think they've got a bit about them and they're going to come out and attack us and cause us other threats, so we've got to be prepared for that.

"They're strong at the back and they've got some good attacking players and I'm expecting a good game."

Reflecting on the game at Weymouth at the end of August, when United were 2-0 up at half-time but conceded twice after the break and had to settle for a point, Brabin felt that injuries during the game were to blame for the loss of two points.

"For 70 minutes we played some great stuff and we were deservedly two-nil up, but we had a couple of people limping through the game injured. Dan Gleeson was injured, Felino came off and he was out injured for two or three games, there were a few people playing injured and Mark Convery came on and he wasn't fully fit, so in that last 20 minutes I think we hurt ourselves more than they hurt us.

"But I'm not going to play them down," he added. "They're a good side and they've got some good players and we'll have to be on our guard. Our defensive record has been quite good for the last few games so we want to keep that going."

More Information

You can learn more about the Terras in Doug Shulman's 'The Other Side' article here, and if you fancy a bet on our match or any other event this week please follow this link to visit our official betting partners bet365 - the only place where your online betting makes money for the U's.

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