ON SUNDAY, 10 members of Darryl Collins’s family will be cheering on Oxford United at Wembley, but a cruel twist of fate means he will be more than 4,000 miles away.

He will miss out on the Blue Square Premier play-off final after he booked a holiday, which starts two days before the big match, more than four months ago.

Mr Collins was so sure that United would win automatic promotion back to the Football League this season that when he booked the two-week break with his girlfriend, Sarah Boodell, he did not give the date a second thought.

Now he is desperately hoping the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud will ground flights over the weekend and delay his holiday.

If it does not, he will have to try to find out whether somewhere in the Dominican Republic will be showing TV pictures of the match, or whether he will be able to listen on radio or follow the action on the Internet.

The 19-year-old accounts assistant, who works in Cowley, said: “I’m very, very gutted.

“It would have been my dream to see Oxford United at Wembley, because I’ve been a fan all my life.

“When I booked it in January, I just thought they would win automatic promotion.

“I didn’t even consider the dates of the play-offs. This was the season I thought we would go straight up.”

Mr Collins, from Holly Close, Kidlington, and his girlfriend paid about £1,000 for the holiday and will fly out from Gatwick on Friday.

He said: “I did have a thought about cancelling, but my girlfriend wouldn’t be happy with me.

“I even tried to move the holiday back a few days but it would cost us a lot of money, so now I’m hoping the volcanic ash cloud will delay the trip.

“My dad has been teasing me about it and saying how they’re all going down on the minibus but deep down they’re all gutted for me.”