Oxford City lost several thousand pounds in revenue after a violent thunderstorm caused the postponement of their money-spinning pre-season friendly against Oxford United on Saturday.

The intensity of the rain waterlogged the Court Place Farm pitch, leaving large puddles on the playing surface, and giving the referee little option but to call the match off just an hour before kick-off.

U's manager Jim Smith was hoping to give many of his fringe players their first real taste of action.

But it was a bigger setback for Southern League City, who had gone to great efforts to make it a special day.

Said City secretary John Shepperd: "It's so disappointing. The weather was just horrendous. We saw the dark clouds appearing about 1 o'clock and thought they would go around us, but they didn't.

"The pitch was looking fine before the game and we'd even had the sprinklers on until about 12 o'clock because the ground had been so hard.

"The council had put in a lot of hard work to get the pitch right. But it didn't stand a chance with the amount of rain we had. You couldn't even walk on it."

While the United players, who had been unable even to do a warm-up, returned to the Kassam to do some more fitness work in the gym, City were left to count the cost.

Shepperd admitted: "We were looking to get off to a good start financially because obviously we don't have any revenue coming in during the summer.

"It's always a bonus to have United here pre-season and this has cost us a lot.

"We'd made so many arrangements because we were expecting a big crowd certainly over 600 and possibly up to 1,000."

The fixture has been rearranged for Wednesday, August 9 (7.45).

Meanwhile, City have confirmed that United's FA Youth Cup preliminary round tie against Sandhurst Town will take place at Court Place Farm on Wednesday, September 13 (7.45).

And United season-ticket holders who are unable to travel to away games will get a £1 discount at City's home games.

Said Shepperd: "It's not a massive discount, but it shows our co-operation."

United secretary Mick Brown said: "In return, we will offer Oxford City season-ticket holders a special deal at a match or two. We are working on the details."