KARL Robinson understands the decision to postpone Oxford United’s Boxing Day trip to Portsmouth.

The Sky Bet League One fixture was called off last night following a Covid outbreak at the south coast club that had forced them to shelve their previous two games.

Meanwhile, Robinson said there were no new cases in the United squad after four players tested positive in the 48 hours before Saturday’s defeat to Wigan Athletic.

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The U’s head coach knows the extent of the situation at Portsmouth, who have not played since December 11.

Robinson said: “We’re disappointed it was off but respectful of the decision, as you can imagine.

“We’ve played with a lot of players unavailable and we feel that if it’s the right thing for them it’s the right thing for football.

“We’re thankful they’ve made that decision early and taken the responsibility.

“The way football’s going at the moment is that some people are using it in their favour and we feel this is certainly legitimate in Portsmouth’s case, we know how many cases they have.”

The four United players to test positive would have been touch and go at Fratton Park, until new rules brought in today that reduce the isolation period from ten days to seven in some cases.

They should return for the U’s next match, at home to AFC Wimbledon a week today.

United have had three rounds of negative Covid tests since the weekend, but Robinson is taking nothing for granted.

“We’ve had three days of clean tests,” he said.

“I don’t think you can change what you’re doing.

“All of our players have been asymptomatic, so we’re thankful for that.

“We hope anyone reading this is in the same boat as our lads, where they’ve come through it okay.

“We just have to abide by the rules – you can’t stop it coming in the building, but you can certainly reduce the spread of it.”