OXFORD United's new boss Malcolm Shotton has kept to his word in demanding hard work from his players.

And he's set to introduce regular afternoon training sessions at least twice a week.

Shotton made an immediate mark with the players yesterday on his first official day as manager.

He took training himself and soon impressed upon them his ideas and expectations.

"We had a good morning session and they worked very, very hard," said Shotton. "The lads have been excellent and very easy to work with. They were very responsive to what I had to do and say.

"I wanted to get into them very quickly some of my ideas. We're going to work hard and get things as organised as possible.

"I want to bring in some afternoon training, at least once or twice a week. It may be only for half an hour but during that time there are things we can work on.

"All the senior players who didn't play last Saturday will play for the reserves tomorrow so that I can have a look at all of them and then make decisions from there."

Shotton said he expects to sign a manager's contract in "two or three days" following his meeting yesterday with managing director Keith Cox.

He was made aware of financial constraints which effectively mean he will have to sell before he can buy, so expects to have to "wheel and deal" if he needs to pay our fees to bring in some new faces. Triallists Jean-Claude Pagal and Peter Holcroft will come under particular scrutiny in tomorrow night's attractive Avon Insurance Combination match against league leaders Arsenal at the Manor.

"We're looking to build on what we have but there's clearly a lot of work to do - that's why the team are near the bottom of the table. But if we can carry on from Saturday we can climb the table.

"I think we will need to strengthen but at the moment it's up to the lads who are in the team not to lose their place. They're in possession of the shirt at the moment and they must fight to keep it."

Some of United's players found it a hard training session yesterday and one or two were surprised that the new manager put himself through such a gruelling work-out.

"He joined in himself and still looked fit. I was surprised just how fit he is," said Joey Beauchamp, scorer of United's winning goal against Portsmouth last Saturday.

"But the lads enjoyed it. He had a few fresh ideas and he's asking for total commitment.

"He says everyone's going to be treated on an equal basis so it looks as though he's going to be hard but fair.

"But if anyone doesn't pull their weight they'll be out."

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