Championship 1 Play-off Preview: Hemel v Oxford

Stags coach Troy Perkins expects 30 per cent of Sunday’s team to be Hemel locals as the club celebrates reaching the play-offs in its first year in Kingstone Press Championship One.

Perkins said: “When we were doing the training in the middle of winter and working hard, our ultimate aim was to make the play-offs and try to progress.

“The boys are pretty excited. We could probably have better form, but we’ve done a fair bit of work on our deficiencies and we’ll take some confidence from having beaten Oxford pretty convincingly only six weeks ago.”

Perkins will give fitness tests to a number of players, but is definitely without Jermaine Coleman (knee) for the rest of the season.

Oxford trio Glen Osborn (ankle), Mike Crabtree (shoulder) and Shaun Morrison (thumb) are all major doubts.

Oxford coach Tony Benson said: “We’re hitting the play-offs with a bit of form and a bit of belief. We’re looking forward to Sunday.”