THE pie's the limit at Oxford United's Manor Ground - according to a new survey which labelled the U's nosh among the worst in the land.

A report from mustard-makers Colman's says the club's suppliers will have to improve if they hope to make a decent crust from supporters.

Colman's ranks the U's pies, pasties, burgers and hot-dogs 88th in a survey of 92 football league grounds plus Wembley.

The survey, included in the Colman's Football Food Guide, was carried out by a 44-strong team of undercover tasters who chomped on club grub up and down England in their quest to find the tastiest soccer snacks.

Top of the pies was Cambridge United, Oxford's local rivals Swindon Town came 77th and Reading were 82nd.

Premiership big boys Manchester United were judged 12th best, while bottom of the league was Leyton Orient.

Oxford United may have taken a recent upturn in football fortunes but the nosh is strictly relegation material, say the tasters.

They dubbed the £1.70 hot-dogs "inedible" and described the club's £2 burgers as having "flimsy bread, cloying meat and lack of substance."

The company responsible for supplying food to the Manor Ground on match days is Faringdon-based Market Place Catering, run by United fan David Gomm.

He said: "In a way it's unfair to compare Oxford to a club like Manchester United, because there's far less money at Oxford. Different clubs can afford to spend different amounts on the food.

"At the beginning of this season we changed our own pie supplier, but the fans wanted us to change back. We've also changed the sausages used in the hot-dog.

"They were small and cheaper before, but now we've convinced the club to buy bigger American-style ones."

Gary Whiting, secretary of the U's supporter's club which is responsible for running the catering kiosks, said the results were disappointing.

He said: "There's an awful lot of things we would like to do.

"We have been in limbo with the move to the new stadium so we haven't been able to develop things as well we we would want to. "

"In terms of facilities we have inherited a Southern League ground for a Division One club, which doesn't help, but regardless of our position, This has opened our eyes that we probably need to look at the situation."

"We have got about half a season left and we want to get back up the table. We don't want to end up down at the bottom." Stick to a pasty OXFORD Mail restaurant critic Chris Gray ran the rule over the pies and pasties on offer at the Manor Ground, each priced £1.30 - and flashed his own yellow card.

First, he tucked into the pasty: "It's a horrible colour inside. It looks very unpleasant., but it has a nice smell as you bite into the crust. You can taste the potato, the swede and the onions.

"It's actually quite nice." It has a strong classic Cornish pasty flavour. It's just the colour that's off-putting. It's unusual in that it doesn't have a lot of carrot in it, like other pasties."

Second was a meat and potato pie: "At least the meat's tender. This one's obviously's been cooked for a long time. It's a good pie but the only ingredient appears to be potato. There are an awful lot of additives and it's far too salty I think for most people's taste. I can imagine them serving it in a pub where they want people to drink more."

Lastly, the club's steak and kidney pie: "Urgh. It's got a jelly-type meat, although the gravy's quite nice.

"Everybody knows that pies like this are not particularly wonderful, but these are not bad ones of this sort." The pastry's uniformly good, they're all edible and you wouldn't throw them away.

"If I was at a football match, of all of them I would have the pasty. "You can taste the swede, which is a particularly nice flavour. It's the best, providing you don't eat with your eyes - it looks all mushy."

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