DENIS Smith finished Valentine's Day by insisting his Oxford United players were getting far too many cards.

The United boss saw red, but there wasn't too much love in the air as he voiced his displeasure at two more bookings in Saturday's 1-0 win at Wycombe.

"This can't go on," Smith said. "We're getting far too many cards. There have been too many cautions and sendings-off this season and we can't afford it."

In addition to Phil Whelan's yellow card for a 52nd-minute foul, Smith learned that Steve Davis was booked for kicking the ball away.

And it means both players will be suspended for the important home league game against Wrexham on February 26. Whelan has reached five bookings this season and for Davis, who has already served a ban, it's his tenth.

Smith thought that left back Paul Powell may also have collected a yellow card, but this was denied yesterday by both the player and match referee Bill Burns, of Scarborough. However, the impending suspensions for his two centre backs means Smith will almost certainly have to dip into the transfer market again to sign a central defender on loan.

"I'll probably have to go for a defender now because I've only got Jon Shepheard left. I'm not very happy about it .

With Whelan and Davis facing bans, Smith's hands will be tied over his next loan target and that means there's no chance of extending goalkeeper Richard Knight's loan from Derby.

Yet Paul Lundin's foot injury doesn't appear as serious as first thought, when he had to come off the pitch at Adams Park.

Andre Arendse, who saved one of the spot-kicks in the penalty shoot-out as South Africa clinched third place in the African Nations Cup by beating Tunisia, is due back in Oxford later this week

Striker Kevin Francis saw a specialist last night to see if he can resume training following his hamstring injury.

Story date: Tuesday 15 February

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