CHRIS Wilder says he needs to get in players who can handle the big occasion after Oxford United’s season ended in massive anti-climax yesterday.

The U’s boss admitted his players never turned up as they lost 2-1 at home to already-relegated Northwich in their final home game.

It meant an end to their play-off dream and almost certainly an end to some of the players’ careers at Oxford.

And on afternoon which might have been a celebration of a fantastic effort by Wilder and the team, a sour taste was left by mindless fans who invaded the pitch during the second half, causing a number of stoppages.

All in all, it was a big let-down for the 10,000-plus crowd, the Conference’s big-gest gate of the season.

As it turned out, United wouldn’t have made it because Torquay beat Burton 2-1. But Wilder said he was concentrating on his own team, and lear-ned things about them which weren’t good – but which have helped him make up his mind about who to retain.

“There were games going on around the country, but I was interested in my team handling the big occasion and they’ve not produced,” he said.

“The players never turned up, never produced, and never took responsibility.

“They worked hard and ran about, but when they had to produce on the big stage, they didn’t do it.

“That’s what I’m going to deliver to this football club.

“As I’ve said, it’s grabbed hold of me in a massive way, and I’ll make sure the supporters have a team that achieve, and we’ve not achieved.

“They’ve done more than all right to get us into this position, but when the big occasion comes, I think there’ll be more than a few who will be a litttle bit disappointed.

“The decision-making was poor, players got into the final third so many times, but took the wrong options.

“We didn’t produce the killer ball in midfield, we took all the wrong options, and we weren’t good enough to win the game.”

United could land in hot water because of the pitch invasion which led to Northwich manager Andy Preece wanting to take his players off.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “It was very disappointing, and came at the wrong time as we had just scored, and it destroyed all the momentum we’d got with that goal.”

However, Wilder did not want to use that as an excuse in any way.

“It didn’t have any effect on our concentration, to my mind,” he said.

“We had a go second half – we’ve always gone for wins.”

Kettering did their bit by winning 1-0 at Kidderminster, who, like Oxford, missed out on the play-offs.

Burton clinched the title, and automatic promotion, despite their defeat at Torquay, who now face Histon in one play-off semi-final, with Stevenage facing Cambridge in the other.