STUART McCall will not be answering any calls of nature during a game again.

His decision to spend a penny in the second half at Oxford came at a costly price.

McCall used the opportunity from a stoppage in play to nip off to the loo – and came back to find out that Wes Thomas had scored for the home side while he was gone.

So the City boss, being a superstitious type, has ruled out any more in-game toilet breaks from now on.

He admitted: “It used to be a lucky thing. I’ve been in the toilet before and we’ve scored but never conceded.

“I drink a lot of bottles of water as well as juice and tea at half-time – but I will not be going again.

“We had a throw-in the far side, Killa (Matt Kilgallon) is down and our physio Chris Royston is ready to go on because we thought he’d done his groin.

“It was the ideal time to go – and then when I came out, two stewards are jumping about celebrating because Oxford have scored.”

But having scanned the match highlights since, McCall was flushed with pride at City’s efforts against another side likely to be in the promotion fray this season.

He said: “The players worked so hard the other night. Two of the lads had the GPS on and they’d doubled the work rate you’d expected from the game.

“Everyone is backing each other up at the minute.

“It was a good technical game of football and a positive performance with, in the end, a positive result.”

Left back Adam Chicksen has served his one-game ban after the late red card against Peterborough. He is expected to return at home to Rotherham tomorrow in place of Tom Field, who deputised diligently at the Kassam Stadium.

McCall reported a few bumps and bruises from midweek but is confident there will be no new absentees for the meeting of the in-form Yorkshire neighbours.

He said: “We’ve got a couple of knocks but we think that’s just what they are. We hope everyone will be available.

“Chicks comes back into the reckoning but it’s still too early for Tim Dieng.

“Calves are notorious because you think you’re almost there. He’s not had a setback but you’ve just got to be careful. The timescale was four to six weeks and he’s still in that, so we’re not pushing him too hard.”

Lukas Raeder played in a development friendly against Barnsley yesterday.