Chris Wilder urged all Oxford United fans to enjoy the moment as the U’s beat Altrincham 1-0 at the Kas-sam Stadium on Saturday.

With other results going their way, Wilder’s side moved eight points clear at the top of the Blue Square Premier.

And though the victory didn’t come with the same number of goals as in recent home wins over Eastbourne, Crawley and Grays, they were still three very important points.

“I can’t complain about anything at the moment,” said Wilder.

“The players are giving me everything and we’re in a fantastic position - and we should savour it and enjoy it.

“It’s put more pressure on other teams because we’ve gone eight points clear.

“I’m very proud of the team.

“I said to the players in the dressing room . . . we’re on 43 points and we’re not even in November yet. It’s a fantastic achievement.”

He added: “It’s been a good day because maybe Luton, Mansfield, York, Stevenage and Kettering would all have swapped results with us, and that can’t be bad, from our point of view.

“I asked the players before the game to extend our lead if we could and they’ve done that.

“Maybe we should have put the game to bed earlier than we did, but we stuck to our task, and 1-0’s a great result where I come from.

“We’d have liked to have made it easier for ourselves, but the players try to pass it through the opposition and the referee made it hard because it was very stop-start.

“But we stuck to it, created numerous chances and on another day we go and win that game 5-0.”

It might have been much more comfortable had Matt Green tucked away an early penalty, but his effort was saved by Stuart Coburn.

Altrincham, though, seldom threatened and United are now in confident mood ahead of their FA Cup first-round tie against Yeovil this Saturday.

Said Wilder: “I never felt in any difficulty.

“They chucked a few things at us in the last three or four minutes, but that’s all it was.”

Damian Batt, whose 65th-minute drive brought him his first goal for the club, said: “I like to get a few through the season and I hadn’t scored before so I’m happy with the goal, but it’s more about the win and the performance.”