Oxford United are counting the cost of the big freeze.

And they are just praying that their big Christmas game is not called off for the second year running.

The club lost potentially thousands of pounds when Saturday’s home match against Shrewsbury was postponed by the match referee in the morning.

It was not just the loss of gate receipts, which may be recovered when the fixture is replayed, but the fact that the club shop had to close on what would have been one of its busiest days of the year.

There are inevitably fears that the Christmas holiday sporting programme will be wrecked.

And that’s the last thing United want, after their lucrative Boxing Day match against Rushden a year ago fell victim to the weather, costing them an estimated £50,000.

The U’s are expecting a bumper gate for the home game against Macclesfield on Tuesday, December 28, following the Boxing Day trip to Stevenage, which is already in real doubt.

Last Saturday’s postponed Shrewsbury fixture will probably not attract as big a crowd if it is rearranged for a Tuesday night, as is likely.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas admitted the postponement has hit them.

“Yes, it will have a financial impact, but obviously we won’t know exactly how much until the game is replayed,” he said.

United general manager Mick Brown says they will try to rearrange the match, if possible, for early in the new year rather than towards the end of the season, but clubs are waiting to see what further disruption to the fixture list there may be over the holiday programme.

A Stevenage spokesman last night admitted there was “a big doubt” over the Boxing Day game, with up to a foot of snow falling locally.

The groundstaff at the Kassam Stadium, meanwhile, face a constant dilemma over whether to remove the covers when temperatures rise slightly, yet there are also snow showers around.

The pitch underneath the snow covering is reported to be in a good condition.

United’s club shop is back open and doing brisk business this week.

However, the planned photo opportunity with the Premiership trophy this week could not take place because of travel problems with the trophy.

All United’s soccer courses have had to be cancelled because of the weather.

Holiday fixctures: December 26: Stevenage (away), December 28: Macclesfield Tn (HOME), January 1: Southend Utd (HOME), January 3: Torquay Utd (away).