The Oxford United staff and groundstaff whose hard work enabled Saturday’s match to beat the freeze have been given a pat on the back by their chairman.

Kelvin Thomas also thanked Oxford Marquees for donating the heaters that were used in the week leading up to the match.

Oxford’s game against Barnet was one of only two in npower League Two to be played – the other was at Northampton.

Although this region was one of the areas in the country least affected by snow, there were still some very low overnight temperatures, and it’s doubtful if the Kassam Stadium surface would have passed the Saturday morning pitch inspection had the hot air blowers underneath the covers not been deployed.

The U’s capitalised by beating Barnet 2-1 to climb to 12th.

And it also provided some vital end-of-year income for United, at a time when fixtures often fall victim to bad weather.

Had it been postponed to a Tuesday night, it is unlikely to have attracted the 6,000 attendance it did.

Thomas said: “We are very pleased to have taken the appropriate steps to ensure that the game was on.

“Now we have full pitch covers we feel we are prepared against the weather.

“But we also have to remember that there were plenty of games that were cancelled even though clubs had covers, and covers alone do not always protect the pitch.

“Having Oxford Marquees there to help us like that was a major reason that this match was able to be played.

“With those heaters, and all the hard work that was put in by both the club staff and the University groundstaff, it meant that we were able to get the three points.

“We would like to thank all those involved in the lead-up to the match and also give credit to Chris Wilder, his staff and the players for staying focussed in what was a very difficult week weather-wise.”