Oxford United's injury worries increased today with the news that Martin Thomas fractured a toe during the reserves' 3-1 defeat by Cheltenham on Wednesday.

The United skipper could be out for up to six weeks - during which time he would have missed three games anyway through suspension.

The injury is a blow to manager Mark Wright, who goes into a crunch four days insisting they can no longer look at ifs and maybes.

Despite playing well in many games this season, and having a defence that is considerably stronger than last year, United find themselves in 17th place in Division 3 with just three wins out of 15 in all competitions.

Their fans, who have seen the improvements that have been made, have been very patient with the team, and very supportive.

But the next two home games, against Scunthorpe United tomorrow and bottom club Carlisle United next Tuesday, are critical.

The U's need to win at least one of them to keep those fans on-side, and to maintain the belief that they can seriously challenge for a play-off position.

Wright admitted: "Being realistic, we need to get a result on Saturday, we really do. That's not pressure on me, it's not pressure on the lads - it's a fact that we need to do well against Scunthorpe.

"But everyone we've talked to seem to rate Scunthorpe as one of the best teams in this division.

"So everyone should be made aware that Scunthorpe will be a hard team to beat. But so are we. We are disciplined, we know what we've got in our locker, and if we take our chances, we can beat anybody in this league.

"Carlisle is a different ball game. We'd have to say that we really should get three points."

He added: "It's down to the lads. We can prepare them all week, but they need to do it on the day.

"It's very close, so we need to start picking up now.

Brian Laws's Scunthorpe team have Premiership quality in the shape of ex-Everton and Manchester City star Peter Beagrie, who is dangerous at free-kicks and can deliver superb crosses.

They have injury worries over right back Nathan Stanton and right-sided midfielder Lee Hodges, who are both rated 50-50 because of thigh strains, which forced them to be substituted at half-time during their 3-1 win over Lincoln in the LDV Vans Trophy.