OXFORD United captain Jake Wright is well aware the rest of Sky Bet League Two will be hoping Northampton Town can win at the Kassam Stadium tonight.

The pair, along with Plymouth Argyle, have occupied the division's automatic promotion places since November 14.

They have eased clear of the chasing pack, with the Cobblers building a 15-point gap to fourth-placed Wycombe Wanderers.

Such a cushion looks very unlikely to be bridged, but United are more vulnerable and if results go against them tonight the cushion would be trimmed to four points.

By contrast, victory for the U's, coupled with Accrington Stanley failing to beat Carlisle United, would ease them nine points ahead and leave the pack needing to finish the season very strongly to force themselves into the top three.

Skipper Jake Wright acknowledged all those clubs still with ambitions of automatic promotion will be willing to let Northampton stretch their lead.

He said: "I think the majority of teams in this league will want Northampton to win this game.

"They are that far ahead it will be very difficult to catch them, so they’ll want them to win and the teams from second down to keep dropping points."

Following Saturday's 4-2 win at Morecambe, United need a point this evening to hit their eight-point target from each block of five games.

They have not fallen short all season and boss Michael Appleton does not intend to start now, although there is no suggestion they will set up for a draw.

He said: "We’ve had a good victory and we want to back it up with a decent home performance.

"Hopefully it’s good enough to get us some points.

"Whether that’s one or three, who knows, but I can’t remember ever going into a game trying to get one point."