Double Doob boob Former Chelsea defender Michael Duberry could see the funny side of his eventful afternoon after Oxford emerged from their match against Hereford with a point from a 2-2 draw. Duberry claimed to have bagged the "imperfect hat-trick" after scoring with his left foot (og), header (og) and right foot.

Where's your Caravan?By Chris HargreavesPublished by The Friday Project, August 2011£8.99ISBN: 9780007364145What next for a lower league footballer upon retirement? A simple enough premise, but too few biographies have tackled the theme with any distinction, so Chris Hargreaves' recent release, which engages throughout with the realities and emotions of signing off from one's playing days, is a

Fair play to West Ham. They may have poached one of the lower leagues' most prolific marksmen, Sam Baldock, from MK Dons but it's not all take, take, take - on the contrary, they seem to be vigorously pursuing a policy of loaning out their youngsters to the benefit of both other clubs and the players themselves.

With year-end targets at work biting, it's an express preview this week based predominantly on recent first-hand impressions rather than diligent research.Indeed, along with the other original unfortunate (not to mention a further couple) I made the trip to the Kassam on Tuesday to see a youthful Plymouth side soundly beaten by their hosts.

Team bonding, beating Oxford and my plans for next season

Matt Lawrence has played for seven league clubs including Fulham, Crystal Palace and Millwall, for whom he appeared in the 2004 FA Cup final during his 16-year career. Now with League Two Gillingham, his diary will appear on MirrorFootball every Monday.

Shaun Miller's brace in Crewe's impressive 3-1 victory at home to Oxford was the latest notable performance from the Alsager-born striker, who is steadily gained a reputation as one of the best strikers in the lower two divisions of the Football League. Building on his career-best 19 goals last season alongside Clayton Donaldson, Miller has now taken the role of main striker with aplomb, scoring

David Bridges has returned to Kettering Town, 3 years after he made the move in the opposite direction to sign for Graham Westley's revolution. A lot has changed in those 3 years. Boro have gone from annual underachievers in the Conference to punching above their weight in League 1. That is ultimately the reason why Bridges' time at Broadhall Way has been cut short.

It's been a little quiet at Broadhall Way over the last couple of weeks. I expected a fairly busy summer with plenty of comings and goings to keep us occupied during the close season, but it has been the opposite really. Guy Madjo's arrival was announced early on and didn't particularly overwhelm the supporters.

In the third installment in our Conversations series, I speak to Scott Walkinshaw, Oxford supporter and curator of that fine Yellows blog, Oxblogger. It's been a busy summer thus far for the Us, and we speak about their recent transfer activity, as well as drilling a little deeper into ownership issues, the role of the Supporters' Trust and the ways in which a period out of the League can alter

In the third installment in our Conversations series, I speak to Scott Walkinshaw, Oxford supporter and curator of that fine Yellows blog, Oxblogger. It's been a busy summer thus far for the Us, and we speak about their recent transfer activity, as well as drilling a little deeper into ownership issues, the role of the Supporters' Trust and the ways in which a period out of the League can alter

What makes a good day out? Three points would do nicely for a start, even in Dagenham, but other variables might range from a particularly memorable chant to the discovery of cracking pub in the shadow of the ground (more to come on that later in the summer on this site...). This year, the award goes to a trip that happened to provide positive results in two of those criteria for this very

Picaresque wanderings that would impress Joseph Andrews himself define the career of Michael Duberry; one time Match of the Day super kid and now gracing the portals of the Kassam Stadium, following his arrival at Oxford United as a free agent earlier this week. Having already turned out for Reading and Wycombe, "Dubes" has now set out his stall in each of the counties covered by the Thames

Returning to these pages for the first time since reviewing Hunting Grounds back in April 2010, NUJ member Niall Slater ponders over the recent controversy at Swindon following the arrival of new manager Paolo Di Canio. Any visitor to the County Ground on a Saturday afternoon is virtually guaranteed to hear fans in the Town End chant their Oxford-baiting song ending in the following couplet: "

Wes Thomas: Has hit 19 goals for Cheltenham in League 2

You may or may not have heard that Cheltenham striker Wes Thomas has effectively decided to leave the club at the end of the season. Thomas is the Robins' top scorer, but wants to move closer to his London home.

Thomas joined Cheltenham after leaving Dagenham & Redbridge.

Financial instability continues to see David beat Goliath in Lower leagues is a post from: Just Football

As has been well documented in recent years there are a whole host of league clubs who are seemingly operating on borrowed time due to season upon season of poor financial management.

On a cold and wet night at Broadhall Way, Stevenage and Oxford played out a 0-0 draw full of incidents but little goal mouth chances. Boro opted for 4-4-2 and made 4 changes from the team that started against Shrewsbury on Saturday. New signing Taiwo Atieno was left out completely after a quiet debut and replaced by Ben May.

After 5 games without a win you could say it is must win time for Boro as they entertain Oxford United at the Lamex tomorrow evening. After Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Shrewsbury Westley's men must react or the slide down the league could continue. Oxford won't be an easy game as our head to head record shows only one win in the 8 games against the Yellows.

Besides horse-racing, Cheltenham is probably most synonymous with Cheltenham Ladies' College. On the evidence of yesterday's display at the Kassam Stadium, there's nothing genteel or ladylike about the way the town's football team approaches a tackle, though Wes Thomas' goal suggested a player who's been to finishing school.

My Favourite Year Edited by Nick Hornby Published by Gollancz/Witherby October 1993, £5.99, ISBN: 978-0-854-93236-8 (New edition, 2001 published by Phoenix) For his second of hopefully many contributions to The Two Unfortunates, William Abbs of blog Saha from The Madding Crowd turns the spotlight on something of a lost classic of football fandom.

A week after the Cup heroics against Newcastle, it's back to the bread and butter of the league. A visit to table toppers Chesterfield and their brand new B2Net Stadium awaits Graham Westley's side. The Spirietes currently top League 2 and are beginning to pull away from the teams around them. They are currently four points clear of 2nd placed Rotherham, while Wycombe are a point further back, although they have played a game more.

If expectations at Bradford City rival those of Philip Pirrip, the city's continued status as one of England's chiefest ten conurbations does provide some justification. However, as a recent piece in the superb Bantams blog, Boy from Brazil admitted, the tide has been receding ever since the decline of the woollen trade – economic woes rarely make for healthy teams.

League Two 2010/2011: The Story So Far Goals, goals galore is a post from: Just Football

With nearly half the campaign gone in English football's fourth tier, League Two, we welcome a new contributor to Just Football. Simon Godfrey is here to take us through the season so far.