Right back Damian Batt says Oxford United’s clash on Saturday with his old club Grays is “a must-win game”.

And Batt’s rally-cry comes on the day that manager Chris Wilder revealed the club have offered Batt a two-and-a-bit year deal to stay at the club.

Victories in their home games are essential if Wilder’s team are to keep alive hopes of reaching the Blue Square Premier play-offs,.

Batt, who missed the 3-3 draw at Forest Green Rovers because of a bruised foot, is relishing what he hopes will be a recall to the side against players he knows well.

But he has other things on his mind too, with the U’s putting an offer to him.

“We’ve offered him something – it’s now up to him to decide,” Wilder said.

“It’s for two years, plus the rest of this season. He has had a lot of clubs and I think he needs to put some foundations down and start playing 30-40 or so games.”

Batt, however, was simply concentrating on beating his former side.

“I’m looking forward to it, obviously being my old team, it should be a good game and hopefully I’ll be fit,” said the 24-year-old, who joined United in January.

“It’s a must-win game for us, if we want to achieve getting in the play-offs. I don’t see why we can’t do that.”

And he’s confident of being available for selection after treatment on his foot.

“I had a fitness test on the morning of the Forest Green game and the decision was not to play, and to be fit for the rest of the season rather than get a niggle again and be out for a couple of weeks,” he said The former Norwich City trainee and apprentice accompanied the Canaries first team during their pre-season tour to Holland in 2003 and was second-choice right back until they signed Marc Edworthy.

He has played for several clubs since being then told by Norwich in January 2004 they wouldn’t be offering him professional terms.

He played for Dagenham & Redbridge, Barnet, St Albans and Stevenage Borough, and joined South London side Fisher Athletic last August, ironically just days after Fisher had sold his brother Shaun to Peterborough United.

Two months later, he left Fisher, along with Kenny Beaney, and the pair joined Grays the following week.

“I was only at Grays a couple of months, but I know all their players and they’re a good bunch of lads,” he said. “It will be nice to catch up with them, but hopefully we’ll get a win.”

However, the Essex side, battling hard to avoid relegation, are defensively sound, having conceded the same number of goals as Oxford, and fewer goals on their travels than play-off chasers Stevenage.

And Oxford have already found how tough they can be, losing 2-0 at the Recreation Ground in November, a game in which Batt played.

United missed Batt’s attacking play from right back last week and Wilder should also be able to call upon Luke Foster and Craig Nelthorpe following suspension, and the available-again Simon Clist.

U’s fans are hoping Batt can make the same impact that younger brother Shaun, a winger, has made for Posh.

A year ago he was working part-time coaching in a primary school to make ends meet, and now the 22-year-old is playing his part in Peterborough’s push for promotion to the Championship.

Grays are unbeaten in their last three away games – all draws – and they showed in their goalless stalemate at Kettering on Tuesday just how hard they are to break down.

Jamie Slabber, who had a spell with Oxford, will probably be joined up front by new loan signing Bradley Hudson-Odoi, from Hereford.

The striker, born in Ghana, started out with Fulham and has featured for Ghana’s Under 20 international squad.

Captain Adam Murray says United need to play with intelligence, something Wilder stressed in their long dressing-room de-briefing after the 3-3 draw at Forest Green.

“The manager was saying we’ve got to be cleverer,” he said.

“We were there for three points and basically we chucked it away – 2-0 up and to not get three points – it shouldn’t happen.

“It’s not as though they battered us and scored three brilliant goals, we made stupid mistakes.

“We’ve still got a chance if we put a run together now. We can’t get beat basically. We’ll keep fighting till the last game, you never know what’s going to happen.

“We’ve got to keep our foot right down and we’ve got to go into Saturday’s game and look to smash Grays and get three points, that’s the only way we can look at it.”