Oxford United will not risk anyone in their FA Carlsberg Trophy tie at Lewes this Saturday who is injured, because it would be too much of a risk to their league campaign.

That was the message from manager Jim Smith after he saw Matt Day (pictured) become the latest "crock" at Rushden on Saturday.

Unlucky defender Day had only just come on as a half-time substitute when he appeared to take a bang on the leg, and 20 minutes later he went over on an ankle.

He was stretchered off in some pain, and there were concerns about significant ligament damage.

However, the news from physio Neil Sullivan last night was encouraging.

He said: "He's definitely damaged ligaments, but it's not as bad as was first feared.

"We're hoping in a couple of weeks he'll be OK, so we're optimistic he'll be able to be involved for the Christmas games."

And there was better news too on centre back Chris Willmott, who missed Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Rushden with a knee injury.

He did a running test on the knee after training last Thursday, and because the joint stood up, he will not need an operation.

"We're taking a conservative approach over the next couple of weeks with Chris," Sullivan said.

"The anterior cruciate was the concern but, fingers crossed, he might be OK for the games after Christmas as well.

"The specialist explained that he needed to see it once it had settled down to see if it's fully ruptured, but there's only minor damage.

"If it was a problem that required an operation, there is no way it would have stood up to that test last Thursday.

"The knee would have just given way and he would have collapsed."

Willmott said: "It held up well when I did the test with the physio and it doesn't look as though I'll need an op, which is obviously good news."

Left back Rufus Brevett is now trying to build his strength up, after missing the last three games with a thigh injury, with the hope of playing against Lewes, while midfielder Eddie Hutchinson returned to action for the reserves last night.

Smith may have been hoping to play one or two youngsters, but says the important thing now is to get United back to winning ways.

"We've got one or two out with injuries now. That makes the options more difficult," he said.

"We won't risk anybody who's got an injury."

While the priority will always be the league, the U's boss insisted Oxford do not want to be dumped out of the Trophy by a Conference South side, and it could be a good fixture for the team to regain their winning mentality.

"It's not as if we've got a massive squad," he said. "I'll put out what I think will be a team that's going to win the game.

"We don't want to be going out of the Trophy early and we don't want to be going out to a team in a lesser league than ourselves.

"It's a lovely place to go, so I've been told, but we need to get back winning so this will hopefully give us an opportunity to do that."

TICKETS for the FA Trophy tie at Lewes have gone on sale to United season ticket holders. Any remaining tickets will go on open sale from 9am tomorrow.