OXFORD United's preparations for tomorrow's Nationwide Conference game at Aldershot have been hit by a double whammy - the weather and illness.

A number of players were unable to get to training yesterday with much of the area snowbound.

And four senior players have been suffering this week with the same type of virus that struck Andy Burgess last month.

Carl Pettefer, Matt Day, Barry Quinn and Billy Turley have all been suffering from illness.

And although Day's knee injury would have kept him out anyway, the other three were all expected to be included in the squad as the U's look for their first league win in 11 attempts.

Said United manager Jim Smith: "The illness problem is quite a concern. The four players have been off for three days with a virus, missing two days' training.

"We were hoping they would be in yesterday, but with the weather so bad there wasn't the normal training, of course, just a few locals coming in and then using the gymnasium."

Last night's predicted frost could be as big a threat to the match going ahead as the snow.

Although temperatures are expected to rise on Saturday, they will not climb as quickly as first forecast. And more snow is predicted for tom- orrow.

"The severeness of this weather has got to put Saturday's game in doubt," said Smith.

However, U's secretary Mick Brown thought that it was unlikely there would be an early decision.

"Aldershot have contacted me and it seems they haven't had it as bad as we have, with just two to three inches of snow there," he said.

"We'll probably talk again early this afternoon. The fact that we're so local means we don't need to do anything before then, unless conditions are so bad there's no chance of the game taking place.

"There is a thaw expected on Saturday, but we'll have to see.

"If it was felt there was a need to prevent our fans from travelling then any pitch inspection would probably be on Saturday morning."

Meanwhile, central defender Mickey Corcoran has reported back safely from Belfast.

The on-loan Cardiff defender was part of the Northern Ireland Under 21 squad for Tuesday's game against Wales Under 21s, but he has been receiving treatment for a knock.

Striker Kris Grebis was not invited by the Latvian Football Federation to play in his country's two friendly games against Bulgaria and Hungary in the Cyprus Tournament this week.