OXFORD United boss Darren Patterson says Gary Twigg's departure will release some useful money in the January transfer window.

Former Airdrie striker Twigg returned to Scotland at the weekend for family reasons.

It was a move that had been widely anticipated with Twigg failing to settle in England. A number of Scottish clubs are believed to be showing an interest in his sudden availability.

Patterson is understood to have lined up two or three players to come in next month, but will not count his chickens until they have put pen to paper.

Priorities for the U's boss are surely a striker with an established goalscoring record and a creative midfielder - though they are what all clubs would love!

After Saturday's 0-0 draw against Kidderminster Harriers, Patterson said there was never any intention to force Twigg, who was in the first season of a two-year deal and who had begun so promisingly with a goal in his first three matches, to stay.

"We can't keep anybody who's not happy, family-wise," he said.

"He couldn't settle and has had a lot of bad luck with injury. We wish him every success in both his football career and in his family life.

"It releases a bit of money, yes. I'm working hard to see what we can do on that front.

"There's no definites in football until they're done. The chairman's been very positive in backing me in what I'm doing, so we'll see what happens."

The stalemate with Harriers leaves the U's with four points out of six from their Christmas games ahead of tomorrow's return clash with Crawley Town.

And Patterson preferred to look at the positives of another excellent defensive display rather than dwell on the team's difficulties in finding the net. They have managed just 30 goals in 30 matches this season.

Patterson said: "It's easy to say it looks so negative because we haven't been scoring goals, but I can't look like that," he said.

"We've just got to build on our Boxing Day win against Crawley and if we win at Crawley that's seven points out of nine."