The 80 hours between 11.30am on Saturday and the start of last night’s match had been full of unknowns and grey areas.

Will more Oxford United players test positive? Will Tuesday’s game go ahead? Who is going to be on the bench?

As kick-off approached, one question echoed louder than ever: Who on earth is playing in goal?

Those were answered one-by-one up to 7.45pm, when the remaining unknown was whether United could refocus after a difficult few days and win a game of football.

Given the circumstances, the 3-1 victory over Fleetwood Town was as comfortable as we could have hoped for.

Read also: Luke McNally on special goal, injury and a 'mad' few days

There are, as always, caveats: The Cod Army also had several players unavailable, they are in awful form and an uninspiring performance was the final nail in the coffin for manager Simon Grayson, whose departure was announced this morning.

Meanwhile, United were missing several key men but could still count on six of their first-choice XI, a Northern Ireland international in Gavin Whyte and Luke McNally and Billy Bodin, who have stepped in several times already this season.

These factors made it easier for the U’s and a team in the relegation zone were never going to come out on the front foot at a play-off challenger, regardless of who is on the pitch.

United’s front six was still very strong, allowing them to be as forward-thinking as ever and continue their run of fast starts.

Fleetwood did not get going until midway through the first half, but the U’s deserve praise for sticking to their principles and making a potentially tense evening into a straightforward one with two goals inside 13 minutes.

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Herbie Kane ran the show in the opening half-an-hour and it was no surprise to see him top the charts with 67 successful passes, even if his under-hit ball to Jamie Hanson led to the visitors’ goal.

Alongside him, Cameron Brannagan deserved his goal for his tireless work out of possession, which helped peg Fleetwood back even during the visitors’ brighter moments.

The midfielder and Sam Long are two players you knew would rise to the challenge, with the latter putting in a trademark display and driving out of defence impressively, too.

All of this kept United on the front foot against admittedly limited opposition, even after Jay Matete’s strike had forced them to reset and go again after half-time.

It also gave Connal Trueman a relatively comfortable introduction to his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spell at the Kassam Stadium, with the goalkeeper barely having to make a save.

Read also: Reaction from Karl Robinson and Connal Trueman

One disappointment was that Whyte did not make more of an impact through the middle.

The Northern Irishman’s selection in that role tells you where Dan Agyei's stock is right now and you would have thought United would look to use his pace with passes in behind the defence more.

Whyte, understandably, lacks Matty Taylor’s instinct for picking up dangerous positions and did not get hold of his best chance early in the second half.

It will be interesting to see if he stays down the middle for Saturday’s visit of Sky Bet League One leaders Rotherham United.

That will be a much tougher test. Despite a decent performance last night, most U’s fans would surely settled for a draw against the Millers right now.