DES Buckingham says the door remains open for both Marcus McGuane and Fin Stevens to work their way back into the matchday squad, having been left out of the last two.

The two players found themselves omitted from the squad at Port Vale, in the aftermath of Oxford United’s 5-0 trouncing at Bolton Wanderers, and were again left out on Good Friday for the trip to Shrewsbury Town.

U’s head coach Buckingham says the duo have trained well since they were first omitted from the squad, and doing so will get them back into contention.

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He said: “They’re a strong group and understand how it is. They’ve trained extremely well and there are no issues in that space.

“If they keep doing that, they’ll get themselves back into contention for those squads. That’s the case for everybody.”

Buckingham added: “Everybody’s always in contention throughout the whole season. The players on the pitch at the moment have to do enough to keep the shirts, and the ones that come on show what they’re capable of.

“Then it’s down to us to pick the right team for the opposition we’re going to face. We’ll do that on performance first, both in training and within games, and then if we feel we can make a change somewhere in personnel that will give us more of an advantage.”