A TRIO of Oxford United players are set to make their first appearances of pre-season tomorrow, but head coach Michael Appleton rates the prospects of a new signing arriving before the game as slim.

Jon Meades, Callum O’Dowda and Josh Ruffels have sat out the wins against Farnborough and Oxford City with minor knocks, but all three are set to feature at Didcot Town.

Skipper Jake Wright, who sat out Tuesday night’s 1-0 win at City after rolling an ankle in training, is also likely to be available.

Michael Collins made his debut in the game and afterwards Appleton hoped another signing could be finalised in time for the next fixture.

While the situation can change rapidly, this morning the U’s boss did not expect any deals to be tied up before the visit to Didcot.

He said: “It’s probably unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

“Next week there will be hopefully one or two coming in to spend a few days at Bisham Abbey.

“Even though we are where we are and there’s only one player who’s come in so far, I’m certainly not standing here panicking or worrying about whether we’ll get the right people in.

“It’s amazing, you can have a week or two where you think nothing’s happened, but all of a sudden two or three drop very quickly.

“I genuinely believe that will be the case.

“We’re speaking to good people and good players and I’m sure over a matter of time, hopefully days, you’ll see some new faces.”

He added: “I wouldn’t be doing my job right and Mark (Ashton, chief executive) wouldn’t be doing his job right if we just brought players in willy-nilly.”

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