KARL Robinson joked he was not concerned about the presence of 50 scouts watching Oxford United’s game on Saturday – because they represented clubs who could not afford his players.

The absence of games in the top two tiers during international breaks always leads to a spike in teams sending representatives to watch matches in Sky Bet League One.

But even taking that into consideration, the turnout indicates the U’s are catching the eye.

And the neutrals cannot have failed to be impressed by the home side, who swept to an accomplished 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers.

Robinson’s biggest task could be keeping this group together when the transfer window opens, but for now he is laid back about the situation.

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He said: “If you were a scout you’d certainly want to watch us, because we’ve got a lot of (good) players here.

“But our players have a high value.

“There weren’t any clubs here who could afford them, so we’re all right.”

He added: “This team is very talented.

“We’ve just got to make sure they keep wearing a yellow shirt when it comes to February 1.”

In many ways, the stand-out element was United’s performance considering who could not play.

An illness wiped out Matty Taylor, while Ben Woodburn and Anthony Forde have joined a treatment room containing Malachi Napa, Jamie Hanson and George Thorne.

Robinson said: “Take Malachi out because he’s young, but the rest of those would get into most teams in the top ten at this level.

“We wouldn’t have been able to cope last year with the amount of injuries we’ve had this season.

“It just shows you how far we have come.”

The U’s boss’s post-match media duties were interrupted when Doncaster’s substitutes appeared to ignore a request from the Kassam Stadium groundstaff over which part of the pitch they could do a running session.

After returning from the argument, Robinson said: “I’m sorry, but these people mean so much to me.

“They work their socks off and make the best possible pitch for us to play on.”