Manager Chris Wilder said Oxford United need to keep moving forward after they sealed their return to the Football League in dramatic fashion at Wembley.

“We’ve got to keep progressing and keep moving forward and not wait for things to happen, which was possibly the case at this club four years ago,” he said.

“But we’ve got a really progressive, go-ahead chairman and I’m sure we will do.”

The U’s boss believes the thrilling 3-1 play-off final victory over York can be a springboard for the club to move onwards and upwards.

“I’m proud of the players,” he said.

“The work ethic of the club that the chairman’s instilled from top to bottom – one that hard work gets its rewards – has proved its worth.

“I think everyone can see with the support and the fan base, we average 6,500 every other week and we had 30,000 fans here.

“This club should not be in this position and we’ve got to make sure it never happens again.”

Wilder became the first manager since Denis Smith 14 years ago to bring Oxford United promotion, and he could not hide his delight when the clinching third goal from Alfie Potter went in.

“My reaction was one of sheer delight. I think everyone could see from my reaction what it meant.

“We should have wrapped it up before, and we’d made it hard for ourselves.

“The character of the lads was tremendous. I had to change my team talk a bit at half-time because I was planning to have a bit of a go at the players for letting them back in it, but then with the way the goal went in, it was then a question of lifting them.

“Ryan’s won Player of the Year and he’s hardly made a mistake all season.

“In the second half York came at us, but I would like to think we would have done the same in their position.”

Adam Chapman was named man-of-the-match for a fine performance in midfield.

Wilder said it had not been a difficult decision selecting Chapman, who is due to return to court in June after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving following an accident in Nottinghamshire last summer.

“I can’t talk about that for legal reasons, but it wasn’t a difficult decision. After the news of it came out, Chappy had to be mentally strong.”

The U’s boss laughed at the way his two diminutive substitutes, Potter and Sam Deering, interchanged passes so well before Potter drilled in the nerve-settling third goal.

“The two little nuggets passed it back and forth, and back and forth, and I thought it was going to come back again when Alfie had it in front of goal . . . but they worked it really well.

“The two boys just gave us a bit of a lift when they came on,” he admitted.

Wilder said promotion through the play-offs had been achieved despite not paying out a fortune on players and wages.

“There is a lot of pressure playing for this club,” he said. “But getting big crowds and having a big stadium doesn’t mean a big budget.

“We have done it predominantly with good players who have experience of the league. The character of the players has been first class.

“I was never going to turn down the start we had.

“Then over Christmas we had a couple of games called off and lost some momentum.”