DES Buckingham is expecting a thrilling game of football when his Oxford United side seek to secure a play-off place away at in-form Exeter City.

The Grecians sit top of the form table, based on clubs’ last six Sky Bet League One matches, having won four and drawn two.

Over the previous 10 games, Gary Caldwell’s side have won six and drawn three, with their only defeat during that run coming in a 2-1 loss at Peterborough United.

With the U’s needing one of Barnsley or Lincoln City ahead of them to drop points, combined with Exeter’s recent form, it promises to be a gripping clash.

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United head coach Buckingham said: “It’s going to be an exciting game against a good team that want to play good football.

“They’re a team that have got a really clear way of playing, and it’s similar to Peterborough, where they will stick to that.

“I think that’s a principle that’s driven through their football club, which is great to see.

“We haven’t necessarily got the result that we felt we deserved in the last couple, for different reasons, but we’ve shown that the performance within that should get us the result, so we’ll go into Saturday exactly the same in terms of our approach to it.

“If we can play the way we have in the last three or four games, we’ll give ourselves the best chance of coming out with a result, regardless of the team we’re playing against.”

The Grecians’ recent results seemingly reflect a side with the pressure off, having secured safety and a mid-table slot, and are therefore able to possibly play with a bit more composure on the pitch.

Buckingham said: “With teams that need points down at the bottom, there’s a real extra cause to do that.

“When you look at teams like ourselves, there’s a need and a cause to do that for different reasons.

“Teams sitting knowing they’ll be in the league next year, they’ve got a really clear way of how they want to do it.

“They’ve been safe for a long time, but the way the manager sets them up, you can see there’s a real pride in what they do and how they do it, and I’ve no doubt that’ll be the same on Saturday.”

Asked whether his mind has ventured as far as net week, when the U’s will either be gearing up for the play-offs or finalising their retained list, Buckingham responded: “All we’ve done is made sure we’re prepared as we can be for Saturday.

“We know what the [play-off] schedule looks like after that, and we know if there’s not a schedule, what that looks like.

“They’re not scenarios we’re playing out right now. Every bit of attention and detail is fully on making sure we’re in as good a space as we can be for kick-off.”