OXFORD United's players have chipped in for a four-day break on the Isle of Wight which they hope will refresh them in their desperate fight against relegation.

The club were invited to send a team to play in a fund-raising match tonight which will help the Isle of Wight to compete in inter-island games.

And, with accommodation provided, United's management hope to use the stay to rest the players and enhance team spirit before the crunch six-week run-in.

The team departed straight after Saturday's dire 0-0 draw at home to Watford.

This result left Malcolm Shotton's team in dire straits with just two points collected from successive home games.

"Going to the Isle of Wight will give us a rest and probably boost team spirits as well, and it's probably coming at a right good time," said Shotton's assistant Mark Harrison.

"With nine games to go we need a bit of a lift.

"Our match on Monday is to raise money for the island games and the Isle of Wight FA have paid for everything for us. "It hasn't cost the club any money, though the players have had to put in a few quid themselves for the minibus to top it up which is fine. It's a little break for us, to get away from the pressure here."

United were boosted by other results, by Barnsley and Stockport respectively.

But the anguish United fans are currently feeling, as their team struggle for goals, was not helped by several former Oxford players finding the net.

Phil Whelan scored on his debut for Rotherham, where he is on loan, at Scarborough, David Smith netted for Stockport, Chris Allen headed a goal on his debut for Port Vale and Marco Gabbiadini smashed a hat-trick for Darlington at Brighton.

Said midfielder Jamie Cook: "We're very unhappy with the two points out of the two games. We could and should have collected six, so everyone's a bit down.

"It was a bit of a scrappy game. All of our boys are a bit on edge at the moment, because we know how important the three points were and we were a bit sloppy at times.

"Everyone's very nervous, especially after only drawing against Huddersfield which made this an even bigger game. We just need to relax a little to start passing it around more. "Going away for a few days will give us a little rest and hopefully we'll come back revitalised and ready for a good fight until the end of the season.

"We'll be playing a bit of golf, doing a bit of bowling, generally resting and playing this friendly match against the Isle of Wight.

"Perhaps playing away at Crewe next week we'll be a bit more relaxed. You can hear our fans getting a bit uptight, and we're getting a bit uptight. Maybe going away, there won't be so much pressure on us, we'll be able to relax more and hopefully get a win."

However, Canadian defender Mark Watson wasn't so sure. "Our fans here are great and we have an advantage here in our little ground and with the slope that we know. Against Watford the effort was there, but we played maybe 30 minutes of good football. We never really got going."

Harrison said: "I thought we were lethargic first half. The boys were saying their legs were a bit heavy and a bit tired. We don't know why, we'll have to look into that.

"I thought we dominated them in the second half and deserved to win the game, as we felt we did against Huddersfield.

"But in the final third we're lacking with the final ball in or getting on to balls coming into the box, and that's disappointing for us."

Story date: Monday 15 March

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