Hayes and Yeading vs Oxford United Predictions

When taking on seventh-tier opponents at SKYEx Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Oxford will be looking to avoid embarrassment in front of the BT Sport cameras and will also be hoping to avoid an inconvenient replay. The hosts go in search of a historic victory.

Since their inception in 2007, when Hayes and Yeading came together to form one club, Sunday’s seventh-tier hosts have reached this stage of the FA Cup just once. Back in 2010, the club that was just three years old cam unstuck against Wycombe Wanderers, losing by two goals to one. This time around, the minnows will be hoping to go one step further.

Away from the FA Cup, Hayes & Yeading aren’t exactly enjoying a fruitful campaign, as they sit in a rather lowly 22^nd position and are just two points above the dreaded drop-zone. Last time out, they were victorious, winning by three goals to two at this venue, but they’d lost three out of four prior to that.

Oxford, on the other hand, have been in flying form in League 1. Karl Robinson’s men are unbeaten in their last nine league matches, six of which they’ve won. During that time, the U’s have made a name for themselves at both ends of the pitch; they’ve had no problem getting the ball in the net, but what has been particularly eye-catching is the fact that they’ve done an excellent job of stopping teams, keeping six clean sheets in their last nine, conceding a total of just four goals.

It doesn’t take much working out to see that Oxford are clearly a better footballing outfit than the hosts, whose recent home defensive record of one clean sheet in their last seven doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of a match against League 1 opposition.

However, while Oxford really ought to win this match, we shouldn’t necessarily expect them to run riot. Given that his side are up against lowly opposition, Robinson could opt to rotate slightly, while the U’s overall travelling efforts this season don’t exactly point towards a high-scoring win. Oxford have scored more than twice in just one of their nine away games this term, while more than three goals have been scored in only three of those nine. Add in the fact that they’ve kept a clean sheet in six of their last nine, as well as that the hosts are likely to adopt a cautious approach and backing the visitors to secure a relatively low-scoring win stands out as a viable option.

Those looking for the ‘Correct Score’ can try a 2-0 win for the visitors. Although Oxford look a good bet to win without running completely riot, the visitors are worth backing to notch twice. After all Hayes & Yeading have shipped two or more in five of their last seven home Southern Premier League games.