Oxford United boss Gary Rowett says dropping into the bottom three doesn’t change much for his side ahead of the Blues’ visit to the Kassam Stadium on Friday evening (KO 8pm).

The U’s grabbed a last-gasp equaliser at Norwich City on Tuesday night to claim what could be a vital point, but dropped into the relegation zone following Wednesday’s fixtures.

Oxford are without a win in four but prior to the 1-1 stalemate with the Canaries drew at home with Middlesbrough with the game ending in the same scoreline.

Rowett knows that the Blues, who have won their last three on the road, scoring 10 goals in the process, will be a challenge for his team, but says that was the case with their previous three home opponents, Millwall, fourth, a 2-2 draw, second-placed Stoke, who beat them 3-0, and Boro, who have since dropped to third.

The U’s have won only once in their eight Championship home matches, a 1-0 success over one of Rowett’s former clubs, Derby County, just over a month ago

“Pretty much how we’re feeling about every game at the moment, certainly the home games,” Rowett said when asked how he is feeling about Friday’s match.

“We’ve had some home games that feel like we’re either playing against third, fourth or whatever that might be, and there have been some really good games in there and we’ve been incredibly competitive and probably deserved more out of the games.

“Ipswich are a very good side. I know [Town manager] Kieran [McKenna] a little bit, I did my Pro Licence with him, so I know he’s a very, very talented, I say young coach, but he’s obviously been been around a little bit now and got good experience and they’ve got a good group.

“You can see how well drilled they are and how well organised they are. They’ve got a decent-sized squad where they can they can mix and match a little bit in games like this, potentially.

“But I could probably say that about most teams in this division and the challenge doesn’t change for us. It’s a home game in which we’ve been incredibly competitive [previously] but without as many wins as we’d like, and we want to try and put that right.”

Reflecting on whether dropping into the bottom three changes anything, the ex-Birmingham, Stoke and Millwall boss added: “Not really. A year ago when I joined us, that’s exactly where we were, so not really.

“Sometimes maybe when you’re in and around it, people perhaps, I’m thinking the players, maybe don’t overthink it as much. Maybe when they see that you are in there then it maybe gives you that extra incentive to get back out of there again. I don’t think it’s necessarily a huge negative.

“We've performed quite well in the last two games, so I think it’s circumstances of other teams winning around us. It’s probably dragged the pack that are above us a little bit closer to everybody. I think it’s made it more competitive at the bottom of the league anyway.

“But, of course, we don’t want to be there, we spoke about it before, we we want to try and change that and the only way you change it is by winning games football.”

Rowett says central defender Ciaron Brown will be looked at ahead of the game having been substituted in the latter stages at Norwich on Tuesday.

“Brownie’s OK. He’s trained today, then we’ll assess him. We haven’t done massive amounts today, as you’d imagine.

“We’ll assess him and see where he is, but at least he’s out there and we’ll make a call as to whether we think he’s 100 per cent or not 100 per cent, same with one or two more.

“And again, it’s always that sort of debate on a Saturday, Tuesday, then a Friday - do you try and change the dynamic of the team energy-wise?

“I think the team’s had really good energy with the last couple of games and we’ve made a conscious effort to get a little bit more of that into the team, so I certainly don’t want to lose that, but I would imagine most teams on the back end of a week that we’re having, probably in that last game will try and make two or three changes.”

Veteran winger Matt Phillips is out with a thigh injury, while full-back Brodie Spencer suffered a foot injury a month ago.

Midfielder Cameron Brannagan, scorer of the winning goal the last time teams met at the Kassam Stadium in the fog in January 2023, is out with a calf issue.

Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images via Reuters Connect