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Oxford United winger Matt Phillips insists he can still be a valuable asset to his club in the Championship, after an injury-hit start to the season. The 33-year-old joined the club from West Bromwich Albion in the summer, but has only made six league appearances so far, with just three as a starter. Des Buckingham's side sit 17th in the Championship, one point and four places ahead of Saturday's opponents Plymouth Argyle. "Credit to everyone, the medical team, sports science, the manager as well, they've been patient, " Phillips told BBC Radio Oxford. "It's maybe something that I've probably got to do better - understanding what my body needs a bit more - especially in terms of recovery. " Phillips may be in the latter years of his career, but his experience could prove crucial for the U's, as he hopes to make his mark in his 10th second-tier season. "I still believe that I have got something to offer at this level, " he added. "I just want to get myself back to 100% sharpness, fitness, and give my best to the team. " This video can not be played Are United worthy of their point from the Millwall game? Oxford United head coach Des Buckingham says it is important they do not look too far ahead in terms of the future of Kyle Edwards. After signing a short-term deal in September, the forward is out of contract in January and has only been available for four Championship matches this season because of an ankle injury. After Saturday's visit to Plymouth, which Edwards appears doubtful for, the U's travel to QPR before playing Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Cardiff and Argyle again, to round off 2024. "He's back with the group but I don't know whether next weekend may be too soon for him, " Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford's podcast 'The Dub'. "We know the player he is and it's making sure we keep him fit. He hasn't had a long spell of being back and showing people what he can do in a period of time but, in the snapshots we have seen of him in the 90 minutes we have seen what type of player and how good he is. " Edwards also only managed to play four games of Oxford's League One promotion winning campaign last year owing to a serious hamstring problem, but Buckingham has been keen to downplay whether this makes it an even bigger month for his future prospects. "He will be very good and very impactful for us throughout December and that's the most important thing for us and him, without looking too far forward, " Buckingham added. Marselino Ferdinan has scored five goals for the Indonesia national side Oxford United will be without Marselino Ferdinan for up to five weeks as he heads off to play for Indonesia in the ASEAN Championship. The competition is for countries in South East Asia with Indonesia scheduled to play Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines in the group stage. "It's an age-group competition - the longest competition I've ever heard of but he won't re-join us until what we're expecting to be the end of December, " Oxford head coach Des Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford. Marselino joined Oxford in August from Belgian side KMSK Deinze but is yet to make an appearance for the U's. The 20-year-old scored both goals for Indonesia in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Saudi Arabia last month. The ASEAN Championship is being staged across nine different countries, with 10 teams having qualified. The final will be played over two legs on 2 and 5 January 2025. Tyler Goodrham's (right) equaliser for Oxford against Millwall was his fourth goal of the season Oxford United forward Tyler Goodrham delivered the U's a bundle of joy with a late equaliser - on the same day his first child was due to arrive. The 21-year-old's partner is pregnant and her due date was on Saturday, when Goodrham was netting an 85th-minute leveller in the 1-1 draw with Millwall. The striker revealed that Oxford's coaching staff were monitoring his phone in the dugout, ready to send him off to the maternity ward if need be. "I think [only] five per cent of babies are born on their due date but the coaching staff were going to tell me during the game, " Goodrham told BBC Radio Oxford. "But Georgia (his partner) is quite good at gauging it and knowing how her body feels so she'd have only actually called me off if the time was right and we had to go. " Goodrham's equaliser ended a three-match losing run for the U's, who have slipped to within three points of the Championship's relegation zone. Oxford face back-to-back away games against fellow strugglers Plymouth and QPR in the next 10 days. It is one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the football calendar as Premier League and Championship clubs join the FA Cup action from round three. The draw will take place on Monday, 2 December from 19: 00 GMT and can be watched live on BBC Two and BBC i Player. Des Buckingham was appointed Oxford United head coach in November 2023 Oxford United boss Des Buckingham says they cannot get too downhearted by recent defeats by Watford, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United in the Championship. The U's are two points clear of the relegation zone as they prepare to host Millwall on Saturday. "We gave a good account of ourselves at Watford, but Middlesbrough and Sheffield United are two sides that are challenging to go up, while we're a side that is making sure we're trying to stay up and if we keep doing what we're doing then we will, " Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford. Millwall are on an eight-game unbeaten run and saw their midweek match at Portsmouth postponed because of a power failure at Fratton Park. "Millwall have been very effective with how they've played. They're probably about where they should be with the squad that they've got, they’re a very established club and they manage games extremely well, " said Buckingham. Oxford will be boosted by the return of Elliott Moore to the squad after he missed the defeat by Sheffield United through suspension. "Elliott's been a big miss on and off the pitch, he leads extremely well and is a very big voice on the pitch and presence around the club so we welcome him back this weekend, " added Buckingham. Midfielder Will Vaulks says Oxford United need to be "realistic" about expectations in games against sides such as Sheffield United who are chasing promotion from the Championship. The U's suffered a 3-0 defeat at Bramall Lane on Tuesday - a result that leaves them two points above the relegation zone having won just one of their past 12 games (five draws, six losses). "From Saturday [a 6-2 loss to Middlesbrough], we obviously wanted a response, " Vaulks told BBC Radio Oxford. "But if we're just realistic and honest about it - and that's the way I'll always be - these aren't the places we come to keep us in the Championship at this point. "We'd like to come here and take points, obviously that was the aim. But I think this time, we have to have a bit of realism. "They're a very, very good team. They've got Premier League players on four times the wages, probably. It's a tough place to come. " Vaulks said there is "no denying the last few weeks have been tough" but said it is what he expected when he joined the club. "I think the first few games we played, we did well, but the teams we played against, to be honest with you, didn't turn up, " Vaulks said. "Essentially that gave the fans and the outside a slightly false view of the way the league would be. "You have games like this and you have to really be together. We can't give anything. We're not good enough to give teams chances. "You play Watford for example, they've got four or five players in that team that can score a worldie goal. They've got top, top players. "We have a team that needs to be together and as soon as you just come away and make little mistakes, you get punished. " When asked whether the recent run of three straight defeats makes Saturday's encounter with Millwall even bigger, Vaulks added: "It's big, but we can't get carried away now saying 'how big is this game, how big is that game? ' "I think every game is big. We want to take points from every game. " Oxford United head coach Des Buckingham believes the club might not be where it is today had it not been for the work of Chris Wilder. The U's visit Wilder's Sheffield United in the Championship on Tuesday with Buckingham coming up against the man who gave him his first senior coaching role. Wilder promoted Buckingham into his first-team coaching group ahead of the 2013-14 season, when he was just 28, after he had spent time in the club's academy. Wilder led Oxford back into the EFL during nearly six years in charge at the Kassam Stadium and Buckingham says everyone should be thankful for what he achieved. "Chris Wilder was the first manager who brought me into the senior coaching space so I've got a lot of time for him just for that alone, " Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford. "I look back now as the head coach of this football club and look at what Chris did at a hugely important time in 2010 to get us back into the Football League and it was a moment where I don't know if we'd be where we are now if he hadn't have done that. " Buckingham takes his Oxford side to Bramall Lane in the midst of a run which has seen them lose four of their past five Championship matches, including a 6-2 hammering by Middlesbrough on Saturday. Matthew Cresswell BBC Sport England Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has said he looks back fondly at his time at Oxford United as he prepares his side's clash with the U's on Tuesday. Wilder spent more than five years at the Kassam Stadium and led the team back to the Football League following a 3-1 win over York City at Wembley in the Conference Premier play-off final in 2010. He did depart in curious circumstances, opting to leave the U's in January 2014 who were in the League Two play-off positions at the time for rivals Northampton Town positioned at the foot of the table. There was also significant confusion around his departure as Wilder denied initial claims from former club chairman Ian Lenagan he had resigned in the wake of an approach from the Cobblers, only to then formally step down 24 hours later. "I would say 90% of it was really good, " Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield. "I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I got given to me by the chairman Kelvin Thomas at the time and the great people that I met along the way. "The late Micky Lewis, his wife and boys coming to the game, they were a big part of the journey. " Wilder gained promotion with Northampton two years later before moving to Sheffield United in his first stint at the club, but his spell in Oxfordshire remains an important and influential chapter in his career. "Jim Smith was a director there as well so fabulous experience for me to learn, as a young manager, from an absolute great and Jim Rosenthal as well who was a director at the time, so fabulous people, " Wilder added. "I still speak to Jim Rosenthal every other week and I still speak to the chairman every other week - fabulous times. "It didn’t end in a great way, unfortunately, but I’d like to think that people will look back at then as a decent time for us. "I’d like to think we all enjoyed one of the best days of my managerial career - a win at Wembley - first time to win at Wembley and in front of 50, 000 supporters and 35, 000 from Oxford was an incredible experience and one that I look back fondly on. " Sheffield United v Oxford United Sheffield United's four-game winning streak was ended when they drew 2-2 with 10 men at Coventry on Saturday but they remain level on points with leaders Leeds and second-placed Sunderland. The Blades welcome an Oxford side with just one win in 11 games (D5 L5) who will be looking to bounce back from a bruising 6-2 defeat at home to Middlesbrough. This is the first league meeting between Sheffield United and Oxford United since the 2016-17 League One campaign, with the Blades winning both games (2-1 home, 3-2 away). Oxford have lost nine of their last 12 away league games against Sheffield United (W2 D1) and have never kept a clean sheet at Bramall Lane in 13 attempts. Sheffield United have won each of their last six home league games without conceding; the Blades last enjoyed a longer winning run in March 2019 (run of eight). No side has won fewer Championship points on the road this season than Oxford (2 – D2 L5), failing to score in their last two such games. Sheffield United have lost only one of their last seven Championship games against newly promoted sides (W4 D2), keeping a clean sheet in both such games this season (1-0 v Derby, 0-0 v Portsmouth). Des Buckingham has overseen four wins from Oxford's opening 15 Championship games of the season Oxford United head coach Des Buckingham welcomes back three players from injury as they prepare for 11 league games in the next six weeks. Cameron Brannagan, Matt Phillips and Przemyslaw Placheta will all be in the squad for Saturday's Championship match at home to Middlesbrough. "We've spoken about building depth in the squad but we didn't expect it to be tested as early this season, " Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford. "We've had to go away from how we play, change shape and it takes some time to get to where you want to get. The players have adapted to it really well but having players back gives us more choice and options. " Oxford follow the game against Middlesbrough with a trip to second-placed Sheffield United and a home meeting with in-form Millwall. "I'm sure the fans are looking forward to having no more international breaks and we've got 23 games to play before the next one, " added Buckingham. "We've prepared for it in terms of recruitment and how we train the players. It's going to be important how we manage the group we have and it's nice to have three back, but we don't want to lose any. " © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.