MICHAEL Appleton has admitted it would be a surprise if Joe Riley returned to Oxford United on loan before this weekend's trip to Dagenham & Redbridge.

The right back returned to Bolton Wanderers this week after spending the first half of the season at United, where he quickly became an established player.

The U's want to bring him back for the rest of the campaign, but there is interest from at least one club in Sky Bet League One.

They are still in regular contact with Bolton, but Appleton will begin to look for alternatives if there is no decision by early next week.

The U's head coach said: "There's a lot of interest as you'd imagine from other clubs and we're still speaking to Bolton on a daily basis to see where we're at.

"They wanted to have a little look at Joe, they have a new manager in place and you'd expect that anyway.

"I'd be very surprised if he comes into the reckoning for the Dagenham game, although we're certainly not thinking that one's dead completely.

"I think if it goes beyond Saturday and we're not getting the vibes that we want come Monday or Tuesday I think we have to start looking elsewhere."

There is better news for Will Hoskins, who will be considered for the bench on Saturday if he can come through training today and tomorrow without any problems.

The striker has been out since September with a groin injury, but scored on his return to the development side this week.