Oxford United skipper Adam Murray should after all be fit for the start of next season.

The good news came after a scan on his foot injury revealed he does not need surgery.

And it’s the same for key defender Luke Foster, who also went for a scan on his ankle.

The results similarly indicated that he doesn’t need to go under the knife.

Relieved manager Chris Wilder said: “I’ve spoken to our physio, Jon Brown, who went with them to the scans, and the prognoses are good.

“With Muzzer, it seems to have healed OK and he just needs rest and rehabilitation and will hopefully be OK for pre-season. And it’s the same for Luke.”

Foster told the Oxford Mail last night: “I tore the ligament in my left ankle in December, but managed to carrying on playing with it.

“It was sore at times and because it was torn, it was putting extra stress on my Achilles and other parts of the heel.

“The scan showed the tear is still there, but with rest it will heal, so that’s what I’ll be giving it over the summer, and then with the right rehabilitation – and we’ve got two good physios in Jon and Charlie Greig – I should be fine for the start of next season.

“It is a relief because that’s what I feared – that the scan would show I would need an operation which would rule me out of (playing in) September.

“We need to have one final visit to the specialist for him to look at the full results of the scan, but from what Jon’s seen, he thinks it should be all right.”

Few U’s fans realised Foster was playing for so long with torn ligaments.

He said: “Sometimes any ball down the left side and I would be struggling a bit, but it didn’t affect my game too much. It was just sore at times.”

Brown said: “In both cases it looks encouraging.

“With Adam, where he had the original tear, it had healed over and there was just some thickened scar tissue which was causing a bit of a problem.

“Luke’s was more of a precautionary scan, but it looks OK and we’ll now try to build up strength around the ankle.

“With both cases it’s impossible to say how it’s going to react, but hopefully they’ll both be OK for pre-season.”