DES Buckingham praised the Luton Town ground staff for their efforts in ensuring Oxford United’s visit to Kenilworth Road wasn’t postponed.

Persistent rain ensured the pitch faced at least three inspections by the match officials in the couple of hours before kick-off, and just after 7pm, the game was given the all-clear.

U’s head coach Buckingham, Hatters boss Rob Edwards, and the match officials led by referee James Bell, checked out the playing surface together, with particular concern surrounding the six-yard box in front of the away end.

Although there was regular rainfall during the match, enough work was done prior to kick-off so that the game was uninterrupted once the fixture was underway.

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Buckingham said: “If the game had been a little bit earlier, it might have been in doubt. Fair play to the ground staff here, they worked extremely hard to get this game on.

“Credit to the ground staff and the referee, and Rob. We were all keen to try and get it on because it causes a fixture backlog.

“You plan and you prepare for this, and more importantly, you’ve got all those fans making travel arrangements to get here.

“Everybody worked together to try and make sure the game went ahead, and I’m happy it has because it was a wonderful spectacle of Championship football.”