Chris Wilder has urged his players, and the fans, to give one final big effort tomorrow – to try and propel Oxford United into the play-offs.

The U’s need to beat Northwich in their last game of the season, and hope that Torquay lose at home to Burton and Kidderminster don’t beat Kettering.

But Wilder believes both of those other results are more than possible, so it’s imperative that United win their match.

“We need a big effort on Sunday, but we’re more than capable of winning the game,” he said.

“We need to be bang at it, to compete, to play at a really good tempo, and to get the ball to our front boys, and we feel we’ve got talented players who can win us this game.”

United’s manager says he can see both Torquay and Kidderminster dropping points.

“You just can’t predict anything in football,” he insisted.

“Has the pressure gone off Burton a little bit with some people saying that they’ve thrown their chance away? “Torquay are favourites, and the pressure swings back onto them, and it’s the same with Kidderminster, who have come with a fantastic run.

“It has whizzed around all over the place.

“There will be a lot of talk on everybody’s situation and it will be down, at 4 o’clock tomorrow, to who handles the situation better, who plays the better football and who is the better team on the day.

“And there’s no doubt that Burton can be the better team on the day, and Kettering can be the better team against Kidderminster.

“Fingers crossed that those results come in and we’ve got to make sure we’re the better team against Northwich.”

And United’s players are confident, without being arrogant, he said.

“The players should fancy their chances against anybody in this league on what they’ve done,” he added.

“To go to Burton last week and do what they did should give them great confidence.

“They’re concentrating their mind on getting 80 points, which for them is 85 points.

“The supporters have got every right to feel aggrieved about the five-point deduction, but we have to make sure we look at the players’ situation as well.

“They’ve got the chance to get to 85 points, which in any season has been good enough to get into the play-off places.

“If there’s any justice, it will be. The players deserve it.”