Oxford United suffered a heavy defeat in the third round of the FA Cup at Coventry but there were two notable absentees from the squad.
Goalkeeper James Beadle, who played in the last round against Grimsby, wasn’t named while captain Elliott Moore missed the game through illness.
Brighton loanee Beadle had reportedly been linked with a recall, with Birmingham and Sheffield interested.
Speaking after the game, U’s head coach Des Buckingham was coy on the goalkeeper situation, saying: “It’s a sign, but we’ve got things in hand with James.
“I can’t speak more on it at the moment, but there’s nothing done with him in that space yet.
“We’re covered should anything in that space move.”
There were some rumours on social media that Plymouth had triggered a release clause in Moore’s contract, which is why he was absent, but Buckingham quickly diminished those murmurs.
He added: “I can 100 per cent confirm that Elliott is absent with illness. I’ve heard there’s a trigger in his contract, which isn’t true – he has no trigger.
“There’s no interest that’s come across my desk or the recruitment desk.
“Elliott Moore is 100 per cent sick, and in the last 24 to 48 hours, we’ve had a member of staff go down with Covid, Elliott sick and our training ground flooded pretty substantially.”
