The final piece in The Kassam Stadium jigsaw was completed last night when a safety certificate was granted for the South Stand's upper tier.

It means the entire ground will be open for tomorrow's Nationwide League Division 3 opener against Rochdale.

Oxford United safety officer Tony Ashley said: "We've got the safety certificate and it's now all systems go.

"With the upper tier open, this gives us the whole capacity of 12,573.

"We had been keeping on top of the situation and were confident of getting the go-ahead."

And he admitted: "It wasn't as much of a close-run thing as last week."

Ashley added: "The whole stadium will be open, but not every facility will be available."

The restaurant will be open to the public, as will the bar underneath the conference centre, but some of the lounges are still being finished off.

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