GEORGE Thorne will not feature in Oxford United’s play-off campaign.

The midfielder signed a short-term contract in January after spending the first half of the season on loan from Derby County.

He joined looking to put an injury-ravaged spell with the Rams behind him, but more bad luck came with a dislocated shoulder in September just as he was starting to find his feet.

Thorne featured four times in February after recovering, but the long break during the lockdown halted his momentum.

Rob Dickie: Oxford United out to grab initiative at Portsmouth

And boss Karl Robinson has revealed what the club have known for some time privately – Thorne will not play in the play-off semi-final against Portsmouth.

The United head coach said: “Everyone’s fit except Thorney, but he’s not done much training anyway.

“He’s out of the play-offs, but we knew that ages ago.”

He added: “It was going to be too much too soon to be going back into this intense training.

“Certain players need a steadier build up to get to a certain level and we’ve had to push them with the short period we’ve got.”