Oxford United, hit terribly by injuries and suspensions this season, have received a welcome boost with the news that striker Jamie Guy's ankle sprain is not as bad as first feared.

Guy injured the ankle in training on Monday and initial fears were that he could face up to 12 weeks out.

However, a scan on Wednesday revealed that there was not the complete damage to the ligaments that the U's had feared, and from which it generally takes three months to recover.

Outgoing physio Neil Sullivan said yesterday: "It's slightly swollen, but he was able to do some light training on Thursday and if all goes well then he will be back in full training on Friday."

It remains to be seen whether Guy will be fit for tomorrow's home game against Crawley, but at least he appears to stand a good chance.

And he should certainly be fit for Tuesday's clash with Cambridge which – sad to report – is being screened live by Setanta. United have yet to win when shown live by the Irish satellite broadcaster, but maybe the luck will change.

These are two very testing home games in quick succession for the U's, who are playing much better than their 19th position suggests, but are not being clinical enough in front of goal.

Manager Darren Patterson felt, even before last Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Kidderminster, that Oxford should have four more points than they actually had. And he can add another one now after Aggborough to make it five.

"We should have won against Kettering, when we're 1-0 up with 18 minutes to go. I expect my team to see that through. And we should have beaten Weymouth here.

"The Woking game we were poor, and were lucky to get a point out of that.

"Had we beaten Kettering, we'd have been sat on 11 points after that game, just three points behind the play-offs and only six points off the top of the league.

"The good thing is, we've got plenty of time to get this back, but we need to start now.

"I know we've had suspensions and injuries, but what we put out there should be good enough to win football matches."

United's new signing, Paul Evans, said: "We created quite a few chances, but didn't take them and it was very disappointing," he said.

"Kidderminster were very good, to be fair, the front two caused a few problems and had a good understanding.

"We got through them a few times and one or two balls didn't drop in the area. "We've just got to put everything on the line and follow through and take them into the net if needs be!"

As well as Jamie Cook, Crawley have another ex-Oxford player. Simon Weatherstone, 28, was signed by Steve Evans in the summer, and the Reading-born midfielder has weighed in with three goals already.