JOSH McEachran suffered a groin problem just before half-time in Oxford United’s defeat at Bristol City.

The U’s were 1-0 up when McEachran signalled to the bench that he was struggling, and the midfielder was replaced by Will Vaulks with a minute to go until the break.

United head coach Des Buckingham was disappointed to have to make a change before half-time for the third game in a row, following the withdrawals of Matt Phillips and Joe Bennett in the victory against Preston North End, and Cameron Brannagan’s knee injury in the win at home to Stoke City.

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Buckingham said: “It’s getting very frustrating having to make substitutions in the first half. It’s the third game in a row where we’ve had to make a change early on.

“Josh gives us a different way of playing and gives us a lot of control in that space. He just felt his groin, so he put his hand up to say he’s felt his groin.

“He’ll be another one that we assess. We didn’t want to risk him, especially when we’ve got someone with the quality of Will Vaulks on the bench, so we made the change straight away. He’ll get assessed and we’ll see.”