KARL Robinson is looking to make the most out of precious time with Oxford United owner Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth this week.

The Thai businessman, who bought a controlling stake in the U’s six months ago, watched Tuesday’s 3-0 Checkatrade Trophy win over Fulham Under 21s.

He is staying to attend Sunday’s televised Sky Bet League One meeting with Coventry City, before returning to Bangkok.

In between Robinson was due to spend yesterday with Tiger and more meetings are scheduled for tomorrow.

The U’s head coach is in contact with the chairman on a daily basis, but is hoping to use the time this week to find ways to improve the link, which can be a challenge with the pair 6,000 miles apart, with a six-hour time difference.

He said: “We’re trying to bridge that gap with the communication.

“This year was always testing the water for us all.

“There are certain things that do work and there’s certain things that probably don’t with the distance, but it’s something we will overcome very quickly.

“Everything is a learning curve for all of us, but we’re in a good place.”

Recruitment will be on the agenda, both looking ahead to the January transfer window and at the players available right now.

With the loan window shut, only free agents can be signed and United are still actively looking to improve their squad, both in England and further afield, although nothing is imminent.

“We’re searching high and low to try to find someone a bit different,” Robinson said.

The switch of the weekend’s game to Sunday has been a big help for United.

An extra day meant Robinson named a stronger side in the Checkatrade Trophy than he would have done if Coventry’s visit was on Saturday.

It also allows the players to have two full days off – yesterday and today – so they can recharge after nine games in four and a half weeks.

The United boss said: “We’ve not had any days off for a while now, so we gave them Wednesday and Thursday, and then we’ll fall back into our training on Friday and Saturday.

“So they get a 48-hour recovery and then we get a 48-hour period of preparing for the game.”