Dfender Mitchell Hanson had an appointment with the doctor yesterday to see whether he can be involved for the U’s against Lincoln tomorrow.

The unfortunate Hanson was stretchered off against Chesterfield at the Kassam Stadium last Saturday just 12 minutes after coming on, following a nasty clash of heads with Spireites’ Dean Smalley.

It caused a large gash in his head, which needed to be glued, and the mild concussion he suffered ruled him out of Monday’s 2-2 draw at Barnet.

But if the doctor gives the all-clear, Hanson could return tomorrow, probably on the bench as cover for Harry Worley.

Regular centre back Jake Wright said: “Mitch has looked really good in training, and in the games he’s been playing. For that to happen to him just ten minutes or so into his debut was really cruel.

“But that’s how football is, it’s really difficult sometimes.”

With Jimmy Sangare suffering a metatarsal injury, after looking so promising in his two appearances, Wright had the unusual experience of having three different central defensive partners in one game.

Even with all that disruption, United still kept a clean sheet against the league leaders, which was testimony to how well everyone played.

“It was unfortunate for Jimmy, he came in and did well against Accrington, and well in the first half against Chesterfield,” Wright said.

“Then after Mitch’s injury, Purks (Ben Purkiss) came on and he did really well too.

“Yes, it was unusual to play with three different partners at the back, but it’s not as though they were new to the club, I knew them all.

“We kept talking throughout the game and did the job we had to.”

The timing of Sangare’s injury was very unfortunate, because it would appear that his Oxford career may now be over.

But manager Chris Wilder would not be drawn on the player’s future.

“We have to assess things,” he said. “He had been very patient and did extremely well when he came in. We’ll have to wait and see.”

The U’s boss was forced into naming only six subs at Barnet and admitted that was not something he did by choice.

Yet injuries have been mounting up over the last fortnight, making physio Jon Brown a busy man.

“We’ve been hit pretty hard over the past two or three weeks,” Wilder said.

“Overall though we’ve steered pretty clear of injuries and I’ve been happy with the conditioning of the players.

“It’s not down to the hard grounds at the moment.

“There have been a couple of impact injuries, like with Simon Heslop, which you can’t do anything about – and he’ll be touch and go for Saturday.

“And then we’ve had the two loan players, Ryan Burge and Ryan Doble, who have gone back to their clubs for some treatment, and we are waiting for decisions on them.”