Patto faces up to losing Guy

8:00am Tuesday 5th August 2008

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Darren Patterson has admitted he is planning for Oxford United's opening match of the season at Barrow on Friday without striker Jamie Guy.

The forward, scorer of seven goals in pre-season, limped out of last night's 2-1 defeat to Portsmouth after just eight minutes, clutching his hamstring.

Guy left the Kassam Stadium with heavy strapping on his right leg.

And United's boss said his gut instinct was that the on-loan Colchester man would not be fit for the start of their Blue Square Premier campaign.

"I think that in all probability, I will be thinking about a team for Barrow without Jamie," Patterson said.

"I have no idea of the diagnosis, and do not have a clue how serious it is, but it is a hamstring injury and everybody knows how bad they can be.

"It will be a real blow for us, but we cannot allow it to put any negativity on our preparations - we must remain positive.

"He has had no problems in pre-season, warmed up well, there was no-one around him and it just happened - we cannot explain it."

Guy's injury took the gloss off an excellent United display, which saw them pose a number of problems for the FA Cup winners, who fielded a full-strength side.

Despite trailing 2-0 at half-time to goals from Papa Bouba Diop and Jermain Defoe, Oxford's youngsters played some exciting stuff in the second half.

And they got their reward when Alex Fisher volleyed past England keeper David James in the last minute of injury time.

Patterson was delighted with his side's efforts.

"Firstly, I want to thank Harry Redknapp for bring- ing a full team to play us, it was a great thing for him to do and no-one will forget that here," he said.

"But I must then give tremendous credit to our lads, who battled throughout and I thought played some great stuff.

"We created a number of chances and the goal we scored capped the evening really.

"What a moment for Fish', scoring against the England goalkeeper after a terrific move.

"If Portsmouth had scored a goal like that, everyone would have been going on and on about it, but that goal was made in our youth team and that is great for the club.

"Pre-season on the whole has gone very well - the injury to Jamie aside - and now all our attentions obviously turn to Barrow on Friday which is when it really matters."