Chris Wilder’s men are out to terminate The Terminator on Saturday That was the nickname given to tough-tackling Julian Dicks, one of the hardest defenders the modern game has known.

Former Birmingham City, West Ham and Liverpool left back Dicks is now the manager of Grays Athletic, who visit the Kassam Stadium in the Blue Square Premier.

And if his new team plays anything like the way he did as a player, the U’s will be in for a difficult match.

When he captained West Ham to promotion in 1993, he picked up three red cards along the way.

One notable challenge for which he was sent off was on Derby County midfielder Ted McMinn, who was later assistant to manager Mark Wright at Oxford.

Dicks picked up dozens more red and yellow cards, but he also possessed a full-blooded shot that made him lethal with free-kicks and penalties.

He had the distinction of being the last Liverpool player to score in front of the Kop in a 1-0 win over Ipswich Town in 1993-4, before it bec-ame an all-seater stand.

However, his knee went and he was forced to retire at the age of 31.

He took up golf and turned professional – something he shares with United’s Jamie Cook – but also had to give this career up due to his knee injury, and he then went on to run a pub near Colchester.

Asked if he could remember any previous meetings on the field he had with Dicks, U’s boss Wilder said: “I think he booted me a couple of times, though he won’t remember me because I didn’t play that standard very long.

“But I imagine his team will be very competitive and hard-working, and want to win.

“He had a great desire as a football player to win matches and compete, and it does show in your teams.

“Grays have had a mixed bag, with a couple of really good results.

“They beat Cambridge at home and got a draw at Stevenage, which I think is always a difficult place to get a result, so we won’t under-estimate them.

“We’re under no illusions that this game starts on a level playing field and we’ve got to earn the right, yet again, to go and win the game.”

Grays, who have ex-U’s striker Jamie Slabber up front, though he started on the bench last week, are just two places above the relegation zone.

But they tend not to concede that many goals (a 5-4 defeat at Rushden being one crazy exception), and have also managed draws at Crawley and Histon.

Wilder said: “I should imagine one of the first things any team does when they come to our place is keep it tight for as long as they possibly can . . . although I misread it against Eastbourne.

“I thought they would come out and have a real go, and they never did.”

He added: “Hopefully, things aren’t decided by refereeing decisions, they’re decided by what we do, and our ability to get at teams.

“I’ve been pretty pleased at the way we’ve done that.

“When you look at the starts, and the games where we’ve not picked up maximum points, we’ve had real good opportunities in all of those games.

“It’s important, while we’re always tight defensively, that we are clinical in the opposition’s box.

“I thought we played pretty well in atrocious conditions last Saturday, but maybe my one criticism was that we weren’t clinical and bright enough in the final third.

“Saying that, we had so many corners, and Beano hit the bar and we had a lot of good opportunities.”

United have taken 19 points out of 21 at home so far, and they’ll be confident of victory again.