Yemi Odubade must keep producing if he wants to come off the transfer list.
That was the firm instruction from Oxford United manager Darren Patterson ahead of today's Blue Square Premier game at Woking.
Odubade returned to United's attack seven days ago and in the two games since has started to look like the player who last season won the fans' player of the year award.
Supporters are divided over whether he should be taken off the transfer list, or remain on it, with 56 per cent of voters in an online poll on oxfordmail.co.uk believing he should come off and 44 per cent saying he shouldn't.
Patterson wants to see more evidence that the player has the attributes to become an important member of a promotion-chasing team in 2008-9.
He said: "I'll have a chat with Yemi at the end of the season.
"When I brought the new players in, I said you shouldn't judge them on just their first one or two games, but at the end of the season, and it's the same with anybody on the transfer list.
"They need to understand what I want as a manager in terms of workrate and effort every single week.
"Everybody needs to put a shift in during a game, that goes without saying, but to be what I am looking for at this football club they need to do it on a consistent basis.
"The last two games I thought Yemi has played very, very well.
"If he does that for the last three games of the season, and puts in the effort that I felt was missing at times earlier, it will obviously give me food for thought."
Odubade, who is contracted through to next season, has given himself a chance of at least getting back into Patterson's future plans by his fine showing against Farsley, and the part he played in Eddie Anaclet's winner at York.
Indeed, Patterson chose to take Matt Green off ahead of Odubade at KitKat Crescent, and that wasn't just to save Green for today, but because Odubade had been the more effective of the two on the night.
Patterson said: "Matt has that arrogance and confidence that strikers need to have, but he's still young and young players can be inconsistent."
Six wins out from their last eight matches represents United's best points return sequence of the campaign, but they have yet to score against Woking in three previous matches.
One thing that Tuesday night did prove is that the U's look much better playing 4-4-2 than 3-5-2 and Patterson looks likely to continue with this for some time.
"It was really down to one player, their No 11 (Martyn Woolford), who was causing us problems when we had the other system. He looks as though he could be playing at a much hiugher level.
"But 4-4-2 for me creates a lot more scoring opportunities than 5-3-2 or 3-5-2. I don't mind playing a three at the back if you've got very, very big, mobile centre halves."
Luke Foster completes his two-game ban.
Patterson says there again may be just one or two changes to his starting line-up to freshen up the team.
Eddie Hutchinson may come back into strong consideration, to face his twin brother Tom, the Woking captain.
And it will also be in the United manager's mind that strikers Justin Richards and Craig McAllister will be itching to play against their old club.
Richards scored 35 goals in just 69 league starts for Woking between 2004-6, and McAllister wasn't far behind, finding the net 23 times in 77 league starts from 2005-7.
Woking: (from) Warner, Lorraine, Hutchinson, Batt, Gray, Quamina, Pattison, Lambu, Sole, Morgan, Norville, Gasson, Marum, Gindre, Maledon, Ruby, Green.
Oxford Utd: (from) Turley, Clarke, Quinn, Day, Howard, Anaclet, Hand, Murray, Trainer, Green, Odubade, McAllister, Richards, Hutchinson, Rose, Pettefer.
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