THE size of Oxford United’s squad means they could play a development game on the same day as a Sky Bet League One fixture next week.

Head coach Karl Robinson is attempting to arrange friendly fixtures so Curtis Nelson can step up his recovery from an Achilles injury.

A waterlogged pitch at Stevenage on Tuesday scuppered his chances this week, but United may end up playing next weekend.

Although the first team host Southend United in a league game at the same time, with the addition of a couple of youth team players they have enough players to accommodate another fixture.

Robinson has inherited a squad which contains 32 senior professionals, when the players out on loan are included.

He said: “We’re going to try to get two or three games in for Curtis.

“The quicker we get him back in the squad the better.

“Obviously the intensity of his training is important as well, so we can still push him relatively hard.

“We’re looking at April 14 to play a behind-closed-doors game.

“We’ve got far too many players at the club and they need to play as well.

“We could almost, embarrassingly, put a team out while we play (in League One).”

He added: “This club will be different next year.

“You won’t recognise the professionalism, the change in mentality.

“The size of the squad will be massively reduced, but the quality will increase.

“I think there’s a lot of work to be done.”