Marvin Robinson is chomping at the bit to get back into action following his bad knee injury.

And with Oxford United in the midst of an injury crisis, Robinson may be thrown in at the deep end against Morecambe on Saturday.

Strikers Rob Duffy, Steve Basham and Yemi Odubade are all struggling with knocks, meaning that Robinson is likely to be named as a substitute, despite not playing a match since the middle of September.

A potential reserve outing at Colchester yesterday was scuppered by United's injury problems, and the former Derby, Lincoln and Macclesfield forward knows that he would be stepping into the unknown by being thrown straight into first-team action.

Robinson, who was signed soon after the start of the season, has not played since United's televised 1-0 win at Crawley on September 18, when he came off after 72 minutes.

He said: "We were told I had damaged cruciate ligaments, and at first I thought that would probably mean I was out for the season.

"Obviously I was gutted. I wasn't expecting that to happen, I'd literally just signed and not scored for the club yet.

"So when I was then told it wouldn't be for that length of time it was good, in a way.

"I've wor- ked hard with the physio, Neil (Sullivan), and am currently working hard with Jordan (Milsom), the fitness coach, mentally and physically to come back.

"I'm nearly there, I'm just waiting for a game now to get tackled for that first time to get back into it."

Robinson said he has been putting in extra hours because the last few weeks have, for him, had to be like pre-season training.

"When the lads have finished training I'm going and doing my own fitness work with just me and Jordan," he said.

"It's like a mini pre-season in-season. I've got to get as fit as I can as quickly as I can."

Sullivan last night had mixed news of the club's injury problems.

"We are still waiting on Steve Basham," he said. "He had his scan, but we need to study everything before we know exactly what's what with him.

"Rob Duffy, Barry Quinn, Chris Hargreaves and Matt Day should hopefully be OK for Saturday though.

"Of the others, Yemi, Gilly (Phil Gilchrist) and Rufus Brevett I would say are touch and go.

"Eddie Hutchinson and Chris Willmott are out."

Of Robinson, Sullivan added: "If the manager decides he needs an extra striker then Marvin would probably be fine - although he missed his scheduled comeback match for the reserves this week."