KARL Robinson said his main concern was the thousands of Covid-19 vaccines after a fire was discovered at the Kassam Stadium during Oxford United’s game against Wigan Athletic.

The stadium has been used as a vaccine hub in recent weeks, however the ground was evacuated at half-time due to a fire in a plant room.

It followed a bizarre weekend for United after the game was initially pushed back 24 hours from Saturday due to a frozen pitch, and then a further hour yesterday to allow more time for the pitch to thaw out.

The events at half-time only added to the unusual weekend.

See also: Oxford beat Wigan late on after fire delays second half

Robinson said: “It was a mental 40 minutes, another chapter in this Oxford United season.

“It’s just another challenge and we embrace it.

“We could smell it in the dressing room at half-time.

“The big worry for me was the 8,000 vaccinations within this building.

“That was far more important than a game of football

“That was our biggest worry as a stadium and as a football club, to make sure that people in the building were safe.

Read more: Sykes on stadium evacuation and win over Wigan

“It’s a great day that the vaccinations can still be carried out and we got three points, it’s a good day for Oxford.

“It shows you that in the face of adversity, which we’ve all had in the last 10 months, that with an ability to think outside the box in a calm and collective way, we can make things happen.”

In a statement, the club thanked the emergency services for their swift response.

The statement read: “At half-time, a fire in a plant room was discovered.

“This in turn caused some of the floodlights to fail, delaying the start of he second half.

“The fire was dealt with and the emergency services were quickly on the scene.”

See more: Sykes eyeing starting role for Oxford United

In the statement, the club confirmed an internal investigation would be launched.

On the pitch, Robinson praised his side for getting back into the game from 1-0 down.

“I thought their goal came against the run of play, I thought we were starting to gain control of the football match,” he said.

“Our wide players became really important to us, the subs who came on made a difference.

“It was a really strong performance against a good Wigan team.”